296 AN HOUR WITH THE HOLLYHO.CK. 



indigenous to China, first known in England in 1573. Dr 

 Turner, however, in a work published in 1564 (nine years 

 earlier!) speaks of it as a well-known plant. According to 

 these authorities, then, whichever may be correct, it is 

 no new candidate for popular favour. But we think it 

 may lay claim to a still higher antiquity. Pliny, in the 

 fourth chapter of his twenty-first book, writes of a Rose 

 with the stalks of a mallow and the leaves of a pot herb. 

 What can this be, if not the flower now under discussion ? 



The old English writers spelt the word Hollihocke, 

 Holyoak, and Holyock, whence it is supposed to have 

 been derived from the Saxon " Holihec." Linnaeus con- 

 sidered it a distinct genus, and named it Alcea, from the 

 Greek word \4A/^?7, in allusion to its medical properties, on 

 account of which it was formerly much valued. 



In a work translated from the German,* and published 

 in London nearly three centuries ago, we have the follow- 

 ing particulars : 



" There be divers sorts of Mallowes, whereof some be of 

 the garden and some be wild, the which also be of divers 

 kinds. The garden mallow (Hollyhock), called the winter 

 or beyond-sea Rose, is of divers sortes, not onely in leaves, 

 stalkes, and growing, but in proposition, colour, and 

 flowers ; for some be single, some double, some white, 

 some carnation, some of a cleere or light red, some of a 

 darke red, some gray and speckled/' Then follows a 

 description, in which it is called " the Great Tame Mallow, 

 with great round rough leaves, larger, whiter, and unevener 

 than the leaves of the other hockes or mallowes. The 

 stalke is rounde, and groweth sixe or seaven foote high or 

 more. . . . The root is great and long, and continueth a 

 long time, putting forth yeerely newe leaves and stalks." 

 It is there called Malva sativa and Rosa ultramarina. 



It is evident that at the close of the sixteenth century 



* A new Herbal, or Historic of Plants, translated from the German of 

 Rembert Dodoens by Henry Lyte, Esq., London, 1586. 



