MALVACEAE MALLOW FAMILY 



Malva rotundifolia, L. 



White, pale pinkish- Common Mallow, Doll-cheeses, 



magenta, magenta- Low Mallow, Fairy-cheeses, 



veined Dwarf Mallow, Cheeses, 



Running Mallow, Maud, 



June-October Blue Mallow, Malice, 



Country Mallow, Round Dock, 



Dutch-cheeses, Shirt-button Plant. 



Malva: Greek, referring to the emollient leaves. 

 Rotundifolia: Latin for round-leaved. 



THE PREFERRED HABITAT: gardens and roadsides. 



THE PLANT: spreading, or low-lying; the stem four inches 

 to twelve inches long, branched at the base, with rough 

 hairs; root very extensive. 



THE LEAVES: alternate; round heart-shaped; one inch to 

 three inches wide; with short, soft hairs on both surfaces; 

 lobed; on very long stems; palmately net-veined. 



THE FLOWERS: clustered in the axils of the leaves; notched 

 or fringed petals about twice the length of the calyx lobe. 



THE FRUIT: a capsule. 



A creeping and rather untidy weed that spreads its 

 round, grey-green, scalloped leaves by means of long stems 

 in the dust of the roadsides of the town. The whitish 

 flowers, veined with magenta, clustered in the axils of the 

 leaves, are like miniature hollyhocks, the notched petals 

 surrounding the united white stamens. More familiar, 

 perhaps, than the flowers, are the round, flat seed-vessels, 

 the "cheeses" as they are called, which are not disagreeable 

 to the taste. 



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