Wild Flowers East of the Rockies 199 

 MALLOW FAMILY (Malvaceae.) 



Composed of herbs or shrubs with alternate, stipu- 

 late, irregular leaves, perfect, regular flowers and 

 having mucilaginous juices. 



COMMON MALLOW; CHEESES (Malva rotundi- 

 folia) (EUROPEAN) is a very common weed about 

 dooryards, especially in the country, and along the 

 edges of cultivated fields. The long stalks spring 

 from biennial roots and creep over the ground, the 

 branches being 6 to 24 inches in length. The dark 

 green, round leaves are very handsome; they have 

 a shallow-lobed and very finely toothed edge and are 

 deeply, palmately-ribbed. The leaves, their stems and 

 the plant stems are rathe* 1 rough. 



The small, wide-spread, bell-shaped flowers are 

 clustered close to the stalk on short stems from the 

 axils of the leaves. The five petals have notched tips, 

 are white, delicately tinted with pink or pale magen- 

 ta, and have veinings of a deeper shade. The flowers 

 are attractive and, were they not so abundant about 

 our very doors, would more often be appreciated. 

 The seed is hard, flat and rounded, composed of a 

 dozen or more carpels; it is eaten by children with 

 great relish, these being the "cheeses" that give the 

 species one of its common names. 



Like so many others of our flowers, this species 

 came to our shores from across the Atlantic. As 

 usual with foreign plants introduced into this coun- 

 try, it thrives here better, and multiplies even faster, 

 than in its native home. It is the same with all 

 classes of life. The English Sparrow, to our sorrow, 

 is so strongly entrenched here that it can never be 

 driven out. The Ring-necked Pheasant, introduced 

 from China, is very abundant in the Northwest and, 

 even in the East, thrives better than the native 

 Grouse. 



