MAL'VA MAURITIA'NA. 
MAURITANIAN MALLOW. 
Class. Order. 
MONADELPHIA. POLYANDKIA. 
Natural Order. 
MALVACBJE. 
Native of 
Height. 
Flowers in 
Duration . 
Introduced 
S. Europe. 
6 feet. 
June, July. 
Annual. 
in 1768. 
No. 347. 
The word Malva, is used in allusion to the emol- 
lient qualities of the plant, and is derived from the 
Latin mollis, soft. Mauritiana, from Mauritius, 
whence it is said to have been brought to England 
by John Earl of Bute. 
This is a tall handsome annual, suitable for the 
backs of borders, the centres of mounts; or for ming- 
ling with low shrubs in the pleasure ground. Its 
flowers are somewhat variable in their depth of 
colouring. We have given the delineation of a 
single corolla, from a less coloured variety; and its 
tints will usually be found to be near the one or 
the other, or varying between them. 
We had a plant of this species of Mallow, which 
did not flower in the first season of its growth; it 
lived, uninjured, through the winter, and in the suc- 
ceeding summer, grew to an incredible size, bearing 
a profusion of showy flowers. Hence it may be 
inferred, that if seeds be sown a month or two later 
than usual, the same change of habit may be se- 
cured. A slight winter protection would render 
success more certain. For flowering in the first 
season, it should be sown in the borders, in March. 
Hort. Kew. 2, v. 4, 216. 
