192 FAMILIAIi FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. 



' Eollyhock. The old - fashioned liollyhock still 



A/thua ru.s-M. holds Its place in the modern gar- 

 den, but the old single variety is rapidly being dis- 

 placed by a new double one which is as full as the 

 fullest rose and quite as beautiful. The colors of 

 these double flowers are rose-pink, salmon, white, 

 primrose-yellow, lilac, magenta, deep red, and nia- 

 roon. Unfortunately, the double variety is not as 

 hardy as the single, but it is more beautiful in point 

 of color effect. For form I still consider the single 

 flower unsurpassed in beauty, and most decorative. 

 The hollyhock comes to us from Syria. It flowers in 

 summer and early autumn. The marsh mallow {A. 

 officinalis)^ the root of which is used to make marsh 

 mallow paste, is a very near relative of the hollyhock, 

 and ffrows wild on our Eastern coast. The clusters of 

 flowers are pale crimson-pink ; the corolla is about an 

 inch in diameter. Musk mallow {^falva Tnoschata), 

 formerly common in old-fashioned gardens but now 

 frequently met with beside the road, is also a rela- 

 tive of the hollyhock ; pne has only to look the lit- 

 tle flower square in the face to recognize at once a 

 family likeness between it and the queenly garden 

 favorite. The flowers of musk mallow are white, or 

 extremely pale magenta-pink ; the leaves are cut 

 into slender lobes. It blooms in summer. M. ro- 

 tundifolia is a little plant with heart-shaped leaves 



