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Malva alcea
Also called European mallow, Greater Musk Mallow, Cut Leaf Mallow, Hollyhock Mallow, Hollyhock
Malva alcea is a hardy perennial in the mallow family, grown for its bright pink, scentless flowers from summer to early fall. It thrives in sun and well-drained soil, and is an easy, drought-tolerant garden plant.
Malva alcea, commonly known as the greater musk-mallow, cut-leaved mallow, vervain mallow or hollyhock mallow, is a plant in the mallow family native to southwestern, central and eastern Europe and southwestern Asia, from Spain north to southern Sweden and east to Russia and Turkey.
It has been widely grown outside of its native range as an ornamental plant. Several cultivars exist such as 'Fastigata', an upright form, and 'Alba', a white flowered form. In some areas, such as the northeastern United States, the plant has escaped from cultivation and become naturalised. It is very similar to, and often confused with Malva moschata.
It is most common in drier soils in thickets, along paths and in waste places. Natural hybrids with the closely related Malva moschata are occasionally found. In central Europe it grows at altitudes of up to 2,000 m.
Malva olbia · Malva trimestris · Tree Mallow · Island mallow · Musk mallow · Cretan Hollyhock · Common mallow · Bull mallow · Spotted Stalked Tree Mallow · Low mallow · Sea Mallow · High mallow
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Malva alcea by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
