MALVACEAE - Mallow Family
Herbs, shrubs and rarely trees.
Leaves alternate,
simple, palmately veined with stipules
Flowers bisexual,
actinomorphic, often subtended by bracteoles
that form an epicalyx, filaments
united into a tube or column (monadelphous), infl. often cymose
Seed with curved embryo, usually without endosperm, oily
Members of this family produce complex carbohydrates, examples of
these compounds are those found in marshmallows and okra.
75 genera, 1000 species
The Malvaceae is divided into five subfamilies on the basis of
the number of gynoecia and fruit type.
Economic importance: Gossypium
is used to produce cotton fibers
(seed hairs), cottonseed meal and oil; cotton has been cultivated for
5000 years; Althaea
(marshmallow), Hibiscus
(ornamentals), Abelmoschus
(okra). The invention of the cotton gin made the cultivation of
cotton possible on a large scale which produced a strong need for
slave labor to work the fields.
Medicinal uses - leaves and roots used to treat dysentery, lung,
and urinary ailments
Diagnostic characteristics: monadelphous stamens, palmately veined
leaves, pistil with many carpels
IMAGE GALLERY
FLOWERING
PLANT GATEWAY