ON THE HOLLYHOCK 197 



Mallow, which is known to botanists as Malva sylvestris, 

 grows by the roadsides and in waste places, and bears 

 pale purple flowers in June. It is a closer relative still 

 of the Marsh Mallow, which frequents the sea marshes, 

 grows two to three feet high, and bears pink flowers in 

 August. The Marsh Mallow is Althcea officinalis, and the 

 Hollyhock is Althcea rosea. Another relative is the 

 Hibiscus, several species of which are esteemed in 

 gardens. Althcea frutex is the same as Hibiscus syriacus. 



The Hollyhock was introduced in 1573. Botanical 

 works give China as the native country, but it was 

 probably brought to Europe by way of Palestine. Any- 

 way, in striving to find the origin of the popular name, 

 we have a difficulty in escaping from the conviction that 

 it is the " holy mallow," the holi-hoc (Anglo-Saxon, 

 koc= mallow) of the Middle Ages. 



Althaea comes quite obviously from altheo, to cure, in 

 allusion to the medicinal virtues of the plant, which are 

 well marked in the Marsh Mallow. 



The Hollyhock was not a familiar plant in mediaeval 

 times. The reader will not find it alluded to by Shake- 

 speare, for example ; but the common Mallow did not 

 escape the eye of the bard, as witness 



" He'll sow't with Nettle seed, 

 Or Docks or Mallow," 



The Tempest^ Act ii. scene I. 



Hollyhocks were, however, grown in Elizabethan days, 

 for Parkinson knew them, and actually illustrated a 

 double variety under the name of Malva rosea multiplex. 

 The flowers were improved steadily as the years passed, 

 and in the early half of the last century had been 

 developed so highly as to become among the most 

 important of garden flowers. They were greatly im- 



