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5. MALVASTRUM, Nov. Gen.

Calyx nudus, seu bracteolis 1–3 setaceis caducis, raro involucello triphyllo persistente, stipatus. Stigmata terminalis capitellata. Tubus stamineus simplex, ovulum peritropo-adscendens, embryo semicircularis, atque radicula infera Malvæ. Carpella mutica vel rostrato. — Herbæ Americanæ; floribus coccineis, auriantiacis, aureisve, axillaribus, raro racemosis. Malvæ et Sidæ sp., Auct.

The propriety will scarcely be doubted of associating in a separate genus such closely related species as those of the section, which have been arbitrarily and variably referred, sometimes to Malva and sometimes to Sida, but which are capable of being clearly and precisely distinguished from either. If the yellow-flowered spcies with a somewhat different habit and a usually manifest persistent involucre, which form the second second (the Chyrsanthæ, DC., &c.), are correctly referred to this genus, it will comprise a large number of species from tropical and South America, which need an elaborate revision. I enumerate below merely the North American species which are known to me.

§1. Flores miniati. Invollucellum nullum, vel parvum, e bracteolis 1–3, rarius 3, setaceis plerumque caducis. Carpella mutica. — Herbæ stellato-incanæ, perennes.

1. M. COCCINEUM: vide p. 21. — Sida coccinea; and β S. dissecta, Nutt., etc.

2. M. GROSSULARIÆFOLIUM. — Sida grossulariæfolia, Hook. & Arn. Bot. Beech. p. 326. Malva Creeana, Graham, in Bot. Mag. t. 3698? (Of this I find no specimen in herb. Graham.)

3. M. MUNROANUM. — Malva munroana, Dougl. in Bot. Reg. t. 1306. M. fasciculata. Nutt.! in Torr & Gray, Fl. 1. p. 225.

4. M. FREMONTII (Torr. ined.): lana alba dense implexa undique tomentissimum; foliis rotundatis basi truncatis crenatis subtrilobis breviter petiolatis; floribus in axillis glomeratis subsessilibus, bracteolis involucelli 3 setaceis calyce lanatissimo brevioribus. — Interior of California, Fremont. The plant is apparently low and spreading, and extremely woolly, but the wool seems to be more or less deciduous from the adult leaves, which are nearly two inches broad. The unopened flower-buds resemble pellets of wool. The expanded corolla is an inch in diameter. Fruit unknown. Along the Andes are numerous species, among which is Malva humilis, Gillies! In Hook. Bot. Misc. 3. p. 150; but the M. sulphurea, Gillies! l.c. is an involucellata Sida, of the same group as S. hederacea.

§2. Flores flavi. Involucellum sæpius triphyllum persistens. Carpella 1–3-cuspidata vel mutica.

5. M. WRIGHTII (sp. nov): pube brevissima stellate undique lepidoto-cinereum; caulibus adscendentibus e radice perenni parce ramosis; foliis oblongo-ovatis dentatis obtusis basi rotundatis truncatisve petiolo duplo longioribus; pedunculis axillaribus solitariis brevissimis; bracteolis involucelli 3 ovatis vel subcordatis persisentibus tubo calycis adnatis lacinias ejusdem triangulari-ovatus acuminatus subæquantibus; carpellis 15–20 plano-compressis apice hirtis extus bilamellato-gibbosis, acie ventrali in cuspidem subulatam producta. — Texas, Mr. Charles Wright, Lindheimer! — Stems 1 to 2 feet high. Leaves thickish, about 1½ inch long; the lower ones rounder. Peduncle one third of an inch in length, rather shorter than the calyx. Petals golden-yellow, oblique, three fourths of an inch long.

6. M. CARPINIFOLIUM. — Sida carpinifolia, Linn. f. Suppl. p. 307; Cav. Diss.1. t. 134. f. 1; DC. Prodr. 1. p. 461; St. Hil. Fl. Bras. 1. p. 184; Webb. & Berth. Canar. 2. p. 37. S. pinnicaulis, Cav. Diss. t. 3. f. 11. S. spirlæfolia, Willd. Enum. Suppl. fide Walp. S. bracteolata, DC. and S carpinoides, DC. l.c.; Malva tricuspidata, Ait. Kew. ed. 2, 4, p. 210; M. subhastata, Cav. Diss. 2. p. 72. t. 21. f. 3; St. Hil. l.c. p. 214. M. Americana, Cav. l.c. t. 22. f. 2. M. Domingensis, Spreng. in DC. l.c. ? — Key West, Blodgett! Texas, Lindheimer! Wright! Mexico, Coulter! Gregg! &c. — Of the greater part of these synonyms I entertain no doubt. The native Texan specimens, and those in cultivation raised from Texan seeds, which, having comparatively simply toothed leaves, the lower broadest at the base of deltoid-ovate, represent the Malva tricuspidata and the Sida carpinioides of De Candolle, agree far too closely with S. carpinifolia from Madeira (which is probably of American origin) to allow of a specific distinction. The calyx in all is tribracteolate, or only 1–2-bracteolate in some of the later flowers. The fruit appears to be absolutely alike in both. The depressed capsule consists of about 10 (8–11) conduplicate-reniform carpels with a very deep ventral sinus, armed with two short cusps of points on the back, and with a much longer and setaceous apical one ("carpellis 3-cuspidatis," and "carpellis dorso breviter bicornutis et basi interna 1-aristatis"), which in dehiscence is bipartible (the "carpellis biaristatis"). The seed is deeply reniform and conformed to the cell, and the embryo semiannular, with the radicle inferior and centripetal.

(M. SPICATUM,=Malva spicata, Linn., which has gathered by Dr. Gregg at Monterey, Mexico, has somewhat similar, but pointless, carpels.)

7. M. ANGUSTUM: annuum, appresse pilosum; caule gracili; foliis lanceolatis vel lineari-oblongis petiolatis rariter serratis; stipulis setaceis; pedunculis axillaribus plerumque solitariis circ. longitudine petiolorum; bracteolis involucelli 2–3 setaceis calyce brevioribus; segmentis calycis latissime ovatis subcordatis acuminatis post anthesin ampliatis; carpellis 5 obtusis omnino muticis puberulus lævibus membranaceis mox bivalvibus. — Sida hispida, Pursh, Fl. 2. p. 452? Hook.! Jour. Bot. 1. p. 198. Malva perpusilla, Nutt.! Mss. in Herb. Torr. (spec. depaup.) — This is probably Pursh’s plant; but I have not seen it from Georgia. Drummon gathered it at St. Louis, whence I have also received it from Dr. Engelmann; and Nuttall found depauperate specimens on the plains of Red River. The carpel and seed are reniform, and the radicle centripetal-inferior.

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