MALVA ODORATA. SWEET-SCENTED MALLOW. 
Class XVIII. MONADELPHIA.— Order VI. POLYANDRIA. 
Natural Order, MALVACEAE. THE MALLOW TRIBE. 
Stem suffruticose, round, branched, from three to twelve feet high, covered more or less with a glandular 
pubescence. Leaves heart-shaped, pubescent, obtuse, from three to five lobed, lobes acutely notched, 
sometimes on the lateral branches the leaves are entire, not lobed , and only acutely dentate. Petioles short, 
varying from one third to one fifth the length of the leaves, and similarly pubescent. Stipules ovate, lan- 
ceolate. Flowers pink, solitary, issuing from the axils of the leaves. Peduncle shorter than the leaves, and 
covered with long hairs. Involucellum three-leaved, leaves ovate, obtuse, hairy, arranged alternately with 
the leaves of the calyx. Calyx pubescent, leafless, broadly ovate and longly acuminate. Petals five, obo- 
vate, longly unguiculate, unguis hairy, and forming a tube ; margin of the lamina more or less irregular. 
Filaments numerous, smooth, adhering to the unguis of the petals, and of an indigo colour. Anthers kid- 
ney shaped, of a similar colour to the filament, dehiscing laterally, longitudinally. Pollen round, echinate, 
transparent in the centre. Styles about nine, longer than the filaments and anthers, and of a purple colour. 
Stigma linear, papillose. 
Popular and Geographical Notice. Many of the plants composing the genus Malva are 
showy, handsome, and deserving of cultivation by the amateur, and from the delicacy of the petals, and the 
freeness of the flowering, there are perhaps but few more worthy of this distinction than the one now 
figured. In addition to its beauty, it gives out a delicious balsamic fragrance, scenting the whole house ; 
this property, however, is not preserved in dried specimens. The genus Malva is pretty generally dis- 
tributed over the whole world, but the greatest number of attractive species are to be found at the Cape of 
Good Hope, and South America. Two species are natives of this country. 
Introduction; Where grown; Culture. This plant appears to be of recent introduction. 
It is not more difficult to treat than other of the suffruticose species, and it may be propagated by cuttings 
in the usual way. It will thrive in any good garden soil. 
Gerarde supposes the Latin name of this genus to be derived from the Hebrew, in which tongue it is 
called Malluach, from its saltness (Melach, salt,) because the Mallow grows in salt places, among rubbish, 
&c., where saltpetre abounds. " I am persuaded,” says he, "that the Latin word Malva comes from the 
Chaldee name Malluach, the ch being left out for the good sound’s sake; so that in the Malua we should 
pronounce the u as a vowel, Malua, which comes near to the English word Mallow.” — French , mauve. 
Italian, Malva. 
We are informed that a tree of the Mallow kind furnishes food to the Egyptians, and the Chinese also 
use Mallows in their food. 
Job speaks of them as being eaten in times of famine. 
“For want and famine they were solitary : fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste : 
“ Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper-roots for their meat.” — Job, chap. xxx. verses 3, 4. 
From the above passage we learn that the mallow was used for food by those nomadic tribes who have 
always pitched their tents in the desert in preference to dwelling in fixed habitations, where it would have 
been their duty to cultivate the earth in order to multiply the benefits of nature. 
This plant was also eaten, boiled by the Greeks and Romans, and in salads, with lettuce and other 
vegetables. 
Horace mentions it as one of his ordinary dishes: — 
“me pascunt olivse, 
Me cichorea, levesque malvse.” 
u Olives, succory, and light mallows are my food.” 
