6. Sida. Involucel none. Seed solitary in the cells, pendulous.
7. Sphæralcea. Bractlets 3. Seeds 2 or 3 in each cell.
8. Abutilon. Involucel none. Seeds 3–9 in each cell.
9. Modiola. Bractlets 3. Seeds 2 in each cell, with a transverse partition between them.
Tribe II. HIBISCEÆ. Column of stamens anther-bearing for a considerable part of its length, naked and 5-toothed at the very apex. Pod mostly 5-celled, loculicidal, leaving scarcely any axis in the centre after opening.
10. Kosteletzkya. Involucel of several bractlets. Pod 5-celled, 5-seeded.
11. Hibiscus. Involucel of many bractlets. Pod 5-celled, many-seeded.
1. ALTHÆ̀A, L. Marsh-Mallow.
Calyx surrounded by a 6–9-cleft involucel. Otherwise as in Malva. (Old Greek and Latin name, from ἄλθω, to cure, in allusion to its healing properties.)
A. officinàlis, L. (Marsh-Mallow.) Stem erect, 2–4° high; leaves ovate or slightly heart-shaped, toothed, sometimes 3-lobed, velvety-downy; peduncles axillary, many-flowered; flowers pale rose-color.—Salt marshes, coast of N. Eng. and N. Y. Aug., Sept.—Perennial root thick, abounding in mucilage, the bases of the Pâtes de Guimauve. (Nat. from Eu.)