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Malvaceae (Order of herbs shrubs or trees)

An order of herbs, shrubs, or trees, with light and soft wood, dispersed through all the regions of the earth except the Arctic. Flowers variously coloured, commonly violet, purplish, pink, or yellow, often showy; peduncles axillary and one-flowered, or disposed in racemes, fascicles, or panicles; calyx with an involucel of whorled bracts; petals five, hypogynous. Leaves alternate, simple, usually palminerved, entire or palmilobed; hairs usually stellate. An emollient mucilage abounds in most of the species; some contain free acids, and are employed as refreshing drinks. There are about fifty-nine genera and 700 species. Well-known genera are: Abutilon, Althaea, Bombax, Gossypium, Hibiscus, Lagunaria, and Malva.