ALVA SYLVESTRIS. 



c 



OMMON 



ALLOW. 



MALVA Llnntel Gen» PL Monadelphia Polyandria. 



CaL duplex : exterior ^triphyllus. Arilli plurimi monofpermi. 



Rail Syn, Gen. 15. Herbje semine nudo polyspermy. 

 MALVA fyhejlris caule erecto herbaceo, foliis feptemlobatis acutis, pedunculis petiolifque pilofis. JJnnal 



Sy/l. Vegetab. p. 520. 

 MALVA caule erecto ; foliis lobatis : lobis ferratis, quinis et feptenis. Haller hlft. n. 1069. 

 MALVA fyhejlris. Scopoll Fl. Carnlol «.859. 

 MALVA fyhejlris folio finuato, C. Bauhln. pin. 314. 

 MALVA vulgaris Parklnjon. 



MALVA fyhejlris Gerard. Rail Syn. p. 269, Common Mallow. Hudfon Fl. Angl. p. 268. 



RADIX perennis, albida, craffitie digiti, in terram aire ¥ 



defcendens, fibris paucis majufculis inftructa, I 



fapore dulci et vifcido praedita. t 



CAULIS plerumque eredtus, pedalis ad tripedalem, % 



teres, pilofus, ramofus. | 



FOLIA petiolis praelongis hirfutis infidentia., quinque I 



aut feptemlobata, ad b'afin macula purpurea t 



iaepe notata, fubplicata, crenata, fuperne laevia, I 



fubtus hirfutula. ± 



FLORES ampli, purpurei, axillaris, fubumbellati, 

 venis faturatioribus picTti. 



STIPULiE duse ad bafin cujufvis petioli. 



CALYX : Perianthium duplex, perfiftens, hirfutum, 

 exterius triphyllum, foliolis lanceolatis, fig. 1 ; 

 interius femiquinquefidum, majus, laciniis 

 ovato-acutis, fig. 2. 



COROLLA : Petal a quinque, obcordata, praemorfa, 

 bafi coalita, plana, fig. 3. 



STAMINA: Filament a plurima in tubum purpu- 

 rafcentem coalita, fig. 5, fuperne laxa, reflexa :, 

 Anthers reniformes, albidae, fig. 6, audi. 



PISTILLUM: Germen orbiculatum : Stylus cylin- 

 draceus, brevis : Stigmata plurima, fetacea, 

 rubicunda, longitudine Styli, jig. 7, 8, 9. 



SEMINA plurima reniformia Arlllo introrfum dehifcen- % SEEDS 

 te tecta, fig. 10, 11. ^ 



ROOT perennial and whitim, the thicknefs of ones 

 finger, itriking deep into the earth, thinly 

 furnifhed with large fibres, and having a 

 fweetiih vifcid tafle. 



STALK generally upright, from one to three feet high, 

 round, hairy and branched. 



LEAVES {landing on long hairy foot-ftalks, having 

 five or feven lobes, often marked at bottom 

 with a purple fpot, fomewhat folded, crenated 

 or notched at the edges, fmooth above and 

 flightly hairy beneath. 



FLOWERS large, purple, growing in a kind of um- 

 bell in the bofoms of the leaves, painted with 

 deeper veins of the fame colour. 



STIPUL^E two at the bottom of each foot-ltalk of the 

 leaf. 



CALYX : a double Perianthium continuing, and 

 hairy ; the outer one compofed of three leaves, 

 which are narrow and pointed, fig. 1 ; the 

 inner one larger and divided into five fegments, 

 which are broader and pointed, fig. 2. 



COROLLA : five Petals heart-fhaped, a piece of the 

 apex as if bitten out, uniting at bottom, and 

 flat, fig. 3. 



STAMINA : Filaments numerous, uniting into a 

 purplifh tube, fig. 5, above unconnected and 

 turning back : Anthers kidney- fhaped, and 

 whitiih, fig. 6, magnified. 



PISTILLUM: Germen orbicular : Style cylindri- 

 cal, andfhort: Stigmata numerous, thread-, 

 fhaped, of a red colour, the length of the 

 Styles, fig. 7, 8, 9. 



numerous, kidney- fhaped, covered with an 

 Arlllus which opens inwardly, fig. 10, 11. 



EVERY part of this plant, but more particularly the root, contains within it a juice fomewhat mucilaginous, 

 hence it has been ranked by writers on the Materia Medlca among the emollients, and considered as ferviceable 

 in all cafes where emollients are proper : but it has more particularly been ufed in difeafes of the urinary 

 pafTages, where the parts have been either injured by calculous concretions, or inflamed from other caufes ; as 

 in the ftone, gravel, bloody urine, ffrangury, gonorrhaea, &c. In cafes of cough, hoarfnefs, roughnefs of the 

 fauces, &c. it has alfo been recommended. Its ufe however has been much fuperfeded by the MarJIimallow, 

 which pofleffes all its valuable qualities in a fuperior degree. The method of uiing it is by making a decoction 

 of the leaves or root : or it may be made into a fyrup in the manner of Marfijmallows. In fomentations and 

 clyfters the leaves are alfo not unfrequently ufed. 



Mallows were formerly eaten as food by the Romans ; not the fpecies here figured however ; but according 

 to Haller, the Maha rotundlfolla Italic a fore amplo of Tournefort was ufed for this purpofe. This author 

 alfo informs us, that a tree of trie Mallow kind is in like ufe with the Fgyptlans ; and that the Chlnefe mix dried 

 Mallow leaves with their food. 



Cattle do not appear to be fond of it ; and as it is a ltrong growing plant, it often does much harm in good 

 rich ground : the root however, though perennial, is not of the creeping kind, and confequently is eradicated 

 without much difficulty. The beff. inftrument will be found to be what is called a docking-iron, of which we fhall 

 give an account in defcribing fome one of the Docks ; and the beft time for taking them up is late in the Autumn, 

 when the herbage being eat down pretty clofe, the leaves of the Mallow are eafily difcerned, and the herbage fuffers 

 little from the operation. 



The Mallow flowers from June to the end of Summer. The Antheras before the opening of the flower, 

 while they are yet entire, afford a very pleafing fpectacle, and are figured by Grew, in a magnified ftate, in 

 his Anatomy of Plants. 



