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Malvaceae
See list of 16 genera in this family-
1b. Plants herbaceous or shrubs to 6 m tall in Hibiscus syriacus; inflorescence without an adnate bract; stamens monadelphous; fruit a capsule or schizocarp
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2a. Gynoecium with 5 wholly connate carpels [Fig. 719]; fruit a capsule; filaments connate, forming a tube, bearing anthers along the sides of the tube [Fig. 719], crowned with 5 teeth at the summit of the filament tube
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3a. Epicalyx with 3, ovate, laciniately toothed bractlets; styles short, the stigmas almost sessile on the ovary; petals white; seeds covered with long, white hairs
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3b. Epicalyx with (6–) 8–15 linear, entire bractlets; style branches elongate, clearly elevating the stigmas above the ovary; petals yellow, pink, red-pink, blue, light purple, or white (when white usually with a red or purple base); seeds without long hairs
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4a. Calyx connate for most of its length, splitting on one side and early deciduous; mature fruit 6–25 cm long, more than 2 times as long as wide
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4b. Calyx basally connate for ca. ½ its length, not splitting, persistent in fruit; mature fruit 1–3.5 cm long, less than 2 times as long as wide
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2b. Gynoecium with 5–40 basally connate carpels [Figs. 718,721]; fruit a schizocarp, the carpels separating at maturity into indehiscent or dehiscent mericarps; filaments connate, forming a tube, bearing anthers primarily near the apex (along the sides in Lavatera) [Fig. 720], without teeth at summit of filament tube
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5a. Epicalyx absent
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6a. Gynoecium with (5–) 10–15 (–30) carpels, mature carpels each with 3–9 seeds and terminated by a slender, solitary beak 3–6 mm long; petals 7–13 mm long, yellow; leaf blades entire to crenate, with or without low, obscure lobes
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7a. Gynoecium with (5–) 10–15 (–30) carpels, the mature ones terminated by a slender beak 3–6 mm long and with 3–9 seeds; leaf blades (5–) 10–15 (–20) cm long, broad-ovate to orbicular
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7b. Gynoecium with 6–8 carpels, the mature ones terminated by a slender apiculus mostly 0.5–1 mm long and with 3 seeds; leaf blades 3–7 cm long, ovate
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6b. Gynoecium with 5–12 (–15) carpels, mature carpels each with 1 seed and either lacking a beak or terminated by 1 or 2 beaks up to 3 mm long; petals 3–10 mm long, white, yellow, or pink to light purple or light blue-purple; leaf blades conspicuously lobed (merely toothed in Sida spinosa)
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8a. Plants dioecious (i.e., with unisexual flowers on separate plants); styles with the stigmatic surface along the inner surface; mature carpels apically beakless or minutely apiculate
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8b. Plants synoecious (i.e., with bisexual flowers); styles with the stigmatic surface at the capitate apex; mature carpels apically terminated by 1 or 2 erect beaks
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9a. Petals white or yellow; lateral walls of separating mericarps persistent
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9b. Petals pink to light purple or light blue-purple; lateral walls of separating mericarps eventually disintegrating
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5b. Epicalyx of 3–9 bractlets present
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10a. Styles with the stigmatic surface at the capitate apex; mature carpels 2-beaked at the apex, each with 2 seeds (1 seed in Malvastrum)
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11a. Petals yellow; leaf blades coarsely toothed or with inconspicuous lobes
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11b. Petals red to red-purple; leaf blades evidently lobed
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12a. Petals 3–8 mm long; flowers mostly solitary or paired in the axils of leaves; terminal lobe of leaf blade only slightly exceeding the adjacent lateral lobes
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12b. Petals 8–13 mm long; flowers (1–) 2–12 from the axils of leaves {confirm}; terminal lobe of leaf blade elongate, more than 2 times as long as the adjacent lateral lobes
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10b. Styles with the stigmatic surface along the inner surface; mature carpels beakless, each with a single seed
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13a. Epicalyx with 3 bractlets that are wholly distinct (connate in Lavatera); gynoecium with 8–15 (–20) carpels
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14a. Bractlets of epicalyx distinct; mericarps not covered by an expansion of the central axis of the fruit at maturity
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14b. Bractlets of epicalyx connate at base; mericarps covered by a disk-like expansion of the central axis of the fruit at maturity (i.e., in fruit)
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13b. Epicalyx with 6–9 bractlets that are connate at the base; gynoecium with 15–40 carpels
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15a. Petals 30–50 mm long; staminal tube pentagonal in cross-section, glabrous; mericarps divided by an internal septum into an upper and lowr locule, the upper locule empty
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15b. Petals 15–20 mm long; staminal tube terete in cross-section, pubescent; mericarps unilocular
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Each photo represents one genus in this family.