Page:Miscellaneousbot01brow.djvu/335

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COLLECTED BY CAPTAIN STURT
317
STURTIA.[68

Malvacearum genus, proximum Gossypio, affine etiam Senræ.

Char. Gen.Involucrum triphyllum integerrimum. Calyx 5-dentatus, sinubus rotundatis. Petala cuneato-obovata, basi inæquilatera. Columna staminum polyandra. Ovaria 5, polysperma. Styli cohærentes. Stigmata distincta linearia. Pericarpia. . . Semina. . .

Suffrutex orgyalis glaber; foliis petiolatis obovatis integerrimis; floribus pedunculatis solitariis.


2. Sturtia Gossypioides.

Loc. "In the beds of the creeks on the Barrier Range." D. Sturt.

Desc. Suffrutex orgyalis glaber. Folia ramorum alterna, diametro unciali, trinervia; petiolo folium subæquanti, basi in stipulam subscariosam adnatam dilatato. Peduuculi vel potius rami floriferi suboppositifolii nee verè axillares uniflori, juxta apicem folio nano petiolato stipulis 2 distinctis stipato instructi. Involucrum foliaceum venosum, foliolis distinctis, cordatis, punctis nigricantibus glandulosis conspersis. Calyx dentibus acutis, sinubus rotundatis. Petala sesquipollicaria, uti calycis tubus glanduloso-punctata glandulis nigricantibus semi-immersis, purpurea basibus atropurpureis margine barbatis. Columna staminum e basi nuda super ad apicem usque antherifera: antheris reniformibus, loculis apice confluentibus. Pollen hispidum.

Obs. Sturtia is no doubt very nearly related to Gossypium, from which it differs in the entire and distinct leaves of its foliaceous involucrum, in the sharp teeth and broad rounded sinuses of the calyx, and possibly also in its fruit and seeds, which are, however, at present unknown. They agree in the texture and remarkable glands of the calyx, and in the structure of the columna staminum. Senra, which, like Sturtia, has the foliola of its three-leaved in- [69