MALLOW

This article appears in Volume V17, Page 493 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: MAL-MAR

MALLOW , botanically Malva, the typical genus of the natural order Malvaceae, embracing about sixteen species of annual and perennial herbaceous plants, widely distributed throughout the northern hemisphere. The mallows possess the reniform one-
Mallow (Malva sylvestris).
Flower in section. 3. Fruit with persistent calyx.
2. Stamens showing the union 1, 2 and 5 enlarged.
of the filaments into a 4. Same seen from the back
common tube (monadel- showing the 3-leaved epi-
phous). calyx. 5. Seed.
celled anthers which specially characterize the Malvaceae (q.v.). The petals also are united by their base to the tube formed by the coalesced filaments of the stamens. The

special

SPECIAL

characters which

separate

SEPARATE

the genus Malva from others most nearly allied to it are the involucre, consisting of a row of three

separate

SEPARATE

bracts attached to the lower part of the true calyx, and the numerous single-seeded carpels disposed in a circle around a central

axis

AXIS (Lat. for " axle ")

, from which they become detached when ripe. The

flowers

FLOWERS, ARTIFICIAL

are
mostly white or pinkish, never yellow, the leaves radiate-veined, and more or less lobed or cut. Three species are natives of Britain. The musk mallow (Malva moschnta) is a perennial herb with five-partite, deeply-cut leaves, and large rose-coloured

flowers

FLOWERS, ARTIFICIAL

clustered together at the ends of the branched stems, and is found growing along hedges and borders of fields, blossoming in July and August. It owes its name to a slight musky odour diffused by the plant in warm dry weather when it is kept in a confined situation. The round-leaved dwarf mallow (Malva rotundifolia) is a creeping perennial, growing in waste sandy places, with roundish serrate leaves and small pinkish-white flowers produced in the axils of the leaves from June to September. It is common throughout Europe and the north of Africa, extending to western and northern

Asia

ASIA

. The common mallow (Malva sylvestris ), the mauve of the French, is an erect biennial or perennial plant with long-stalked roundish-angular serrate leaves, and conspicuous axillary reddish-purple flowers, blossoming from May to September. Like most plants of the order it abounds in

mucilage

MUCILAGE (from Late Lat. mucilago, a mouldy juice, from mucere, to be mouldy)

, and hence forms a favourite domestic remedy for colds and sore throats. The aniline dye called mauve derives its name from its resemblance to the colour of this plant.
The marsh mallow (Althaea officinalis), the guimauve of the French, belongs to another genus having an involucre of numerous bracts. It is a native of marshy ground near the sea or in the neighbourhood of saline springs. It is an erect perennial herb, with somewhat woody stems, velvety, ovate, acute, unequally serrate leaves, and delicate

pink

PINK

showy flowers blooming from July to September. The flowers are said to yield a good deal of honey to bees. The marsh mallow is remarkable for containing asparagin, C4H8N208,H20, which, if the root be long kept in a

damp

DAMP

place, disappears, butyric acid being developed. The root also contains about 25 % of

starch

STARCH

and the same quantity of

mucilage

MUCILAGE (from Late Lat. mucilago, a mouldy juice, from mucere, to be mouldy)

, which differs from that of gum arabic in containing one molecule less of water and in being precipitated by neutral acetate of lead. It is used in pdte de guimauve lozenges. Althaea rosea is the hollyhock (q.v.).
The mallow of Scripture, Job xxx. 4, has been sometimes identified with Jew's mallow (Core/torus olitorius), a member of the closely allied order Tiliaceae, but more plausibly (the word nab; implying a saline plant) with Atriplex Halimus, or sea orache. In Syria the Halimus was still known by the name Malluh in the time of Ibn Beitar. See

Bochart

BOCHART, SAMUEL (1599-1667)

, Hieroz. in. 16.

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