A large family, widely distributed; mostly herbs, with mucilaginous
juice and tough, fibrous bark; leaves alternate, mostly
palmately-veined and lobed, with stipules; flowers regular, perfect, or
the stamens and pistils on different plants; sepals five, often with
an outer row of bracts below, resembling another calyx; petals five,
their bases or claws united with each other and with the base of the
stamen-tube; stamens numerous, united by their filaments into a column,
forming a tube enclosing the pistils; fruit a capsule, breaking when
ripe into several one-seeded parts, or splitting down the back of the
valves, allowing the seeds to escape. The little fruits are commonly
called "cheeses." True Mallows are introduced "weeds" in this country.
[Illustration: Deer Brush--Ceanothus integerrimus.