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 yK 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 ba<:e. The green 

 *5-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 is 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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