MALVACEAE MALLOW FAMILY 
HALBERD-LEAVED ROSE MALLOW 
Hibiscus militaris Cav. 
The Halberd-leaved Rose Mallow rivals the cultivated 
Hollyhock in beauty of floral display. It grows along streams 
and in other wet places from Pennsylvania to Minnesota, south 
to Florida and Louisi- 
ana, and blooms in Aug- 
ust and September. 
This is a perennial 
which sends up each 
year a cluster of smooth 
stout stems 3-S feet high. 
Some or all of the leaves 
are halberd shaped; that 
is, they are shaped like 
an arrowhead but with 
the 2 basal lobes extend- 
ing outward almost at 
right angles. 
The large flowers are 
produced in the axils of 
the upper leaves as well 
as at the ends of branches. 
They are delicately pink 
or flesh color, with a 
purplish base. The green 
s-lobed calyx persists 
and becomes inflated as the fruit develops. Below it is an in- 
volucel of many narrow bractlets. The long column bears the 
anthers along the greater part of its length. Within 1s the com- 
pound pistil with a 5-celled ovary and 5 united styles whose 
stigmas are separate. The fruit is a capsule containing many 
silky seeds. 
The Rose Mallows should not be confused with the European 
Marsh Mallow, Althaea officinalis L., which belongs to the same 
family but is a quite different plant with much smaller flowers. 
The Marsh Mallow is the plant whose roots furnish the mucilage 
used in making marshmallow confectionery. It has become natural- 
ized in some places in this country but is seldom found in Illinois. 
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