MALVA SYLVESTRIS

Family and Genus:- See- MALVACEAE/Sect. MALVA

Common Names:- Common mallow

Homotypic Synonyms:- Malva erecta, Malva mauritiana.

Meaning:- Malva (L) Soft.

Sylvestris (L) Wild, of woods or forests.

General description:- Biennial or perennial, with simple and stellate hairs.

Stems:-

1) 30-90 cm tall, sparsely pilose with simple, tubercle-based hairs.

Leaves:-

1) very variable in size, reniform to suborbicular-cordate, more or less palmatifid,

with 3-7 semicircular to oblong, crenate lobes.

Flower:-

1) In irregular clusters in the leaf axils.

2) Pedicels, rather long and slender.

3) Epicalyx segments, 3, free, ovate-lanceolate.

4) Sepals, broadly triangular.

5) Petals, 15-30 mm, at least 3 times as long as the calyx, pinkish-mauve with

darker veins.

Fruit:-

1) Mericarps, glabrous or pubescent, strongly reticulate, dorsal face flat, angles

sharp, but not winged.

Key features:-

1) Mericaips, reticulate-rugose on the dorsal face, usually short-pilose.

2) Lower flowers 2 or more in each leaf-axil

3) Petals, 15-30 mm, at least 3 times as long as the calyx, pinkish-mauve with

darker veins. .

4) Lower surface of the sepals with numerous small, stellate hairs.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Meadows, scrub, roadsides, fallow fields, coastal habitats. 0-800(-1500)

Distribution:- Common throughout Greece. - A widespread Euro-Siberian species

Widespread and common on Crete.

Flowering time:- Apr-July, sometimes later.

Photos by:- Steve Lenton