Malvacea

Flower of a malvacea: a, the calyx; b, the corolla; c, the stamens united in a tubular androphorum (from the Greek aner, man, or in Botany, a stamen, and pherein to bear—a columnar expansion of the centre of the flower upon which the stamens seem to grow;) d, the stigmata.

Not a single one of these malvaceas but has its property, purgative or febrifuginous, and if medical botany ever minutely studies these humble climbers, in root, bark, and flower, they will find more than one treasure.

As textile plants, we have cotton, maguey, and emajagua, and, less useful, the guasima and some herbaceous malvaceas.

A group of the malvaceas, known as vassouras, is so persistent and universal in its growth that, if Brazil possessed a department similar to that in the Australian Colonies, they would become proclaimed plants.

The chief characteristic of the Amazonian forest, aside from its magnitude, is the great diversity of genera and species. In the northern temperate zone we find forests of a single species, others of three or four species; in this great tropical forest the habit of growth is solitary and an acre of ground will contain hundreds of species—palms, myrtles, acacias, mimosas, cecropias, euphorbias, malvaceas, laurels, cedrellas, bignonias, bombaceas, apocyneas, malpigias, lecythises, swartzias, &c.

A number of fine fiber plants, including ramie, many malvaceas, and piassava, furnish a small supply of fibers, which could be very greatly increased if the other industries of the country did not absorb the energies of the people.

[…]; in the districts mentioned of Los Santos and Veraguas, the land is excellent for the cultivation of plants which consume potash, such as the amarilidas, Agavo americana, Phurcroya gigante, etc. bromelicaceas, Anarasa sativa, Bromelia carata, and some malvaceas such as Gossipum arboreum G, Barbacum G. bardensis.

[…]; Malva Blanca (Wiltheria Americana) and a very wide list of palms and malvaceas.