Mallow
Botanical name: Malva
Mallow
Botanical name: Malva
Description
The mallow (Malva) are a small but diverse and highly widespread group of flowering plants. Many mallow are grown ornamentally, being highly regarded for both their showy flowers and their ease of cultivation. Several species, including High Mallow (M. sylvestris), bear edible and nutritious leaves, which have historically been eaten as salad greens and are currently sold dried for tea.
Species of Mallow
Island mallow
Island mallow (Malva assurgentiflora) is a perennial plant native to the Channel Islands in California. Island mallow is often grown in California as an ornamental species that is planted to break the wind. Attracts many types of butterflies, hummingbirds, and other birds.
Annual mallow
Annual mallow (Malva trimestris) is an annual flower with roots in the Mediterranean region. It can now also be found around North America. Annual mallow prefers drained soils and full sunlight. The species epithet to its scientific name, "trimestris," refers to its habit of blooming for three months at a time. Those blooms attract birds, bees, and butterflies.
Low mallow
Low mallow (Malva pusilla) is a weedy annual species that often grows in yards, lawns, and cracks in concrete. Although some gardeners grow this white flower in gardens, it is often considered a weed in other contexts.
Common mallow
The common mallow is an ornamental plant with a large variety of cultivars. It has historically also been used to create a yellow dye. Common mallow seeds are shaped roughly like cheese wheels, leading the seeds (and sometimes the plant itself) being called "cheeses."
Cheeseweed mallow
Cheeseweed mallow (Malva parviflora) is a plant species native to Europe, Asia, and Northern Africa. Cheeseweed mallow has a variety of other common names including Egyptian mallow, marshmallow, small-flowered mallow, and mallow. This species is naturalized in many places.
Tree mallow
Tree mallow (Malva arborea) prefers to grow on exposed coastal areas, as it has a high salinity tolerance and can excrete salt through its leaves. It produces vibrant purple flowers and is native to the British Isles, the western coasts of Europe, the Mediterranean, and parts of North Africa.
Tree mallow
Tree mallow's bicolored petals make it a hit among gardeners. The pink/purple centers seep into the purer white outer edges. You can find it growing naturally along shorelines. The subshrub has received the Award of Garden Merit.
Cornish mallow
Cornish mallow (Malva multiflora) is a flowering plant that is native to the Mediterranean and naturalized in parts of Australia and the southwestern United States. It produces small pink or purple flowers.
Mallow
Mallow is an annual variety of mallow that is grown for ornamental purposes. It bears striking purple flowers that bloom throughout the summer. It is sometimes known as Creeping Charlies and its seeds are called cheeses.
Common mallow 'Primley Blue'
With sterile flowers, the common mallow 'Primley Blue' cultivar of the mallow lasts longer than other varieties because it does not go to seed. The cultivar is named due to its association with Herbert Whitley, a biologist who loved the color blue and lived at Primley House.
Common mallow
Common mallow originates in Eurasia and is considered to be an invasive plant in North America. It can take hold quickly in disturbed soils, generating extensive taproot networks that are hard to eliminate. Its seeds can survive for a long time in the soil. Once the seed coat is broken and exposed to water, it can germinate. With its slightly rounded leaves, it is often mistaken for a geranium weed, but geranium leaves are more deeply-dissected.
Musk mallow
Musk mallow (Malva moschata) is a flowering plant native to Europe. Musk mallow was introduced into the New World early in the colonial period and has since spread around the world. There are blue, purple, pink, red, and white varieties of this species. Both the common name and specific epithet reference the "musky" scent the plant gives off.
Chinese mallow
The acreages were dwindled since the Tang dynasty. In his Nong Shu , Wang Zhen wrote that mallow came top among various vegetables, because "it could be alternative in years of crop failure, or be marinated to serve with staples". There were rare occasions that people cultivate or consume mallow, during the Ming dynasty.
Garden tree-mallow
Garden tree-mallow (Malva thuringiaca) is a highly popular, award-winning ornamental plant prized for its elegant pink flowers, which are attractive to butterflies, bees, and other pollinators. In the wild, this plant can be seen most easily during its summer and early fall bloom times, growing by roadsides and waterways.
Mediterranean mallow
Persistent shrub, up to 2 m in height. Stem erect, semi-woody, often brownish violet, younger parts tomentose, harsh and starry hairs. Leaves alternate, long petiolate, in total up to 15 cm long, with both pubescent faces. The lower ones more or less rounded, the upper ones oval, pointed with 3-5 lobes, the longest terminal.
Greater musk mallow
Greater musk mallow (Malva alcea) is a popular ornamental plant thanks to its graceful pink flowers, which add color to borders. This plant isn't just loved by people though; its nectar attracts several kinds of bees and other pollinating insects. The caterpillars of many butterfly and moth species also feast on its leaves.
Bull mallow
Bull mallow is a flowering herb that grows naturally on stony and rocky ground. It grows exuberantly after the earliest winter rains and produces a multitude of enormous, billowing green leaves on thin stems. The lovely pink flowers attract the cabbage white butterfly as well as bumblebees.
Spotted-stalked tree-mallow
The spotted-stalked tree-mallow (Malva punctata) are a small but diverse and highly widespread group of flowering plants. Many spotted-stalked tree-mallow are grown ornamentally, being highly regarded for both their showy flowers and their ease of cultivation. Several species, including High Mallow (M. sylvestris), bear edible and nutritious leaves, which have historically been eaten as salad greens and are currently sold dried for tea.
Scientific Classification
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