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P L A T E CXXXV.
M A L V A R E F L E X A.
Keflex-flow er ed Mallow.
C L A S S XVI. ORDER VL of S M . Gen.
Plant. 1789.
MONADELFHIA POLYANDRIA. Th r e a d s united. Many Chives.
G E N E E I C CHAEACTEE.
CALYX. Perianthium duplex ; exterius iú^hjXlum,
anguftius; foliolis cordatis, acutisj perfiftentibus;
interius monophyllum, femiquuiquefidum,
majus, latius, perCflens.
C O R O L L A . Pétala quinqué, obcordata, prsemorfa,
plana, tubo ftaminum bafi affixa.
STAMINA. Filamenta numerofa. Inferné coalita
in tu bum, in hujus apice et fuperficie fecedentia
et libera. Antherae reniformes.
P I S T I L L U M . Germen orbiculatum. Stylus cylindraceus,
brevis. Stigmata plurima, fetofa,
longitudine flyli.
PEKICAKPIUM. Capfula fubrotunda, compofita
e loculamentis pluribus, (tot quot ftigmata)
bivalvibus, virticillatim inarticulatis circum
receptaculum 'columnare, tandem dilabentibus.
SEMINA folitaria, rarius duo feu tria, renifor-
S P E C I F I C CHAEACTEE.
Malva foliis cuneiformibus, inequaliter incifolobatis
; petalis reflexis.
EMPALEMENT. Cup double; the outer threeleaved,
narrower; leaflets heart - iliaped,
iharp, and remaining; the inner one-leaf,
half iive-cleft, larger, broader, and remaining.
BLOSSOM. Five petals, inverfely heart-iliaped,
appearing bit at the ends, flat, fixed to the
tube of the chives at the bafe.
CHIVES. Threads numerous, united below into
a tube, at its top and furface parted and
loofe. Tips kidney-ihaped.
PoiNTAL. Seed-bud orbicular. Shaft cylindrical
and fliort. Summits many, briftlefliaped,
the length of the fliaft.
SEED-VESSEL. Capfule roundiih, compofed of
many cells (as many as there are tips) twovalved,
forming a whorl round a columnar
receptacle not jointed, at length falling
off.
SEEDS folitary, feldom two or three, kidneyihaped.
Mallow with wedge-fliaped leaves, unequally
galhed into lobes; petals reflexed.
E E P E E E N C E TO THE PLATE.
1. The Empalement, the inner and outer Cup feparated from the
BloflTom.
2. A Bloflbm fpread open.
3. The Chives and Pointal.
4. The Chives, the connefting tube cut open.
5. The Seed-bud, Shaft and Summit, magnified.
SOME light doubts, at firfl:, arofe in our minds, that this plant might be M. virgata, the 15th in
Profeflbr Martyn's new arrangement of Miller's Diaionary, vide art. Malva. But, from the extraordinary
length of the branches of M. virgata, there defcribed to be fix feet and a half long, and only
the thicknefs of a wheat ftraw at the bale! with dark purple flowers; we cannot but confider this,
which never rifes to more than a foot and a half or two feet in the. ftem, with white flowers, excepting
a fmall ftreak of red at the bafe of the petals, as a diftina and new fpecies. It is a native of
the Cape, and was received in feeds, from thence, in the year 1794. As a hardy green-houfe plant
it is raofl; ornamental; the bloflbms, which are quite reflexed when full blown, being produced in
fucceflion from March till November, upon every part of the plant. It is increafed by cuttings made
in May, and placed under a hand-glafs on a lhady border. Light loam with a fmall mixture of peat,
is the beft foil to make it flouriih.
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