a	Style branches and stigmas twice as many as carpels (style branches mostly 10, carpels 5)
	b	Style branches and stigmas as many as carpels (5-many) or style undivided and stigma ± entire

	a	Epicalyx of (3-)5-16 filiform to broadly ovate, mostly free segments Carpels without hooked spines	Pavonia
	b	Epicalyx of 5 lobes fused in lower third Carpels with hooked spines	*Urena

	a	Fruit a capsule or indehiscent and woody to ± fleshy Staminal tube toothed at apex to truncate, bearing anthers on most or much of its surface
	b	Fruit a schizocarp with mericarps eventually separating from a persistent axis Staminal tube split at apex into many filaments

	a	Style simple (rarely very slightly divided at the tip), apex 5-lobed or clavate with ± coherent stigmas
	b	Style divided apically into distinct branches Stigmas capitate to club-shaped

	a	Calyx spathaceous, thin, splitting laterally and deciduous with the corolla	*Abelmoschus
	b	Calyx not splitting laterally, truncate or regularly lobed, persistent

	a	Calyx distinctly 5-lobed
	b	Calyx truncate, entire or at most dentate or undulate

	a	Calyx with rows of black oil glands along nerves	Cienfugosia
	b	Calyx without black oil glands	Radyera

	a	Epicalyx of 3 large, leaf-like, persistent bracts	Gossypium
	b	Epicalyx of 3-8 small, narrow, deciduous bracts

	a	Fruit indehiscent, woody or somewhat fleshy	Thespesia
	b	Fruit a loculicidally dehiscent capsule	Azanza

	a	Style 3(4)-branched Epicalyx of 3 large, leaf-like, persistent bracts	Gossypioides
	b	Style 5-branched Epicalyx of 5-20 variable bracts, occasionally absent

	a	Ovules and seeds solitary in each locule	Kosteletzkya
	b	Ovules and (mostly) seeds 2 or more in each locule	Hibiscus

	a	Epicalyx absent
	b	Epicalyx present

	a	Ovules 2 or more per locule Seeds mostly 2 or more per mericarp or sometimes 1 by abortion
	b	Ovules 1 per locule Seeds 1 per mericarp

	a	Mericarps 5-40, not divided	Abutilon
	b	Mericarps 3-5, ± divided into 2 compartments by a transverse constriction	Wissadula

	a	Corolla cream to orange, rarely white Lateral walls or mericarps not disintegrating before fruit breaks up	Sida
	b	Corolla blue Lateral walls of mericarps disintegrating before fruit breaks up	*Anoda

	a	Stigmas ± apical, usually with distinctly greater diameter than rest of style branches
	b	Stigmas decurrent on adaxial side of filiform to narrowly clavate style branches

	a	Ovules 1 per locule
	b	Ovules or seeds 2 or more per locule

	a	Petals yellow Mericarps with 1 apical and 2 dorsal awns pointing outward	*Malvastrum
	b	Petals pink, mauve, purple or white Mericarps rounded or mucronate at apex	Anisodontea

	a	Mericarps ± divided into 2 compartments by a transverse partition
	b	Mericarps not divided into 2 compartments

	a	Plants prostrate, biennial to annual	*Modiola
	b	Plants erect to decumbent, perennial	Anisodontea

	a	Lateral walls of mericarps with a clearly demarcated reticulate-fenestrate area in lower third	*Sphaeralcea
	b	Lateral walls of mericarps smooth or variously ridged to obscurely reticulate-fenestrate	Anisodontea

	a	Epicalyx of 6-10 bracts	Althaea
	b	Epicalyx of 3 bracts

	a	Epicalyx bracts fused at base, broad and leaf-like	*Lavatera
	b	Epicalyx bracts free to base, mostly linear to lanceolate	Malva