COMMON MkLLOW.—iMahYi sylvestris. 



Class MoNADELPHiA. Or(hr Polyandria. Nat. Ord, Malvacejs. 

 Mallow Tribe. 



This Mallow is very common throughout 

 England, though it is rare in Scotland. Chil- 

 dren call its young circular fruits cheeses ; 

 hence, in some country places, the plant is 

 called cheese-flower. The large handsome 

 blossoms adorn our lanes and fields, and 

 cluster in beauty on our waste places, from 

 June until August. The leaves are cut into 

 seven lobes, and are roundish in form ; but 

 not so much so as in the species called the 

 Dwarf or Round-leaved Mallow. Both our 

 wild and cultivated Mallows are useful in 

 medicine, on account of the mucilage which 

 they contain. The leaves are also boiled, and 

 used by country-people as an application to 

 wounds and bruises. Mallow tea is a medi- 

 cine nuich taken in Paris, not only for coughs 

 and colds, but for a variety of maladies. 

 Several species were used as food by the 

 Romans, though which particular kinds they 

 praise so highly w^e cannot now determine. 



