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Malva nicaeensis
Also called French Mallow, Southern Mallow, Mallow Of Nice
Malva nicaeensis is a low-growing annual or biennial mallow with pinkish flowers, native to the Mediterranean and Middle East. It is a wild weed rather than a common garden ornamental, and it grows easily from seed in mild, sunny conditions.
Malva nicaeensis is a species of flowering plant in the mallow family known by the common names bull mallow and French mallow. It grows up to 60 centimetres (24 in) tall, producing pinkish flowers. It grows in the Middle East, where it has variously served as food.
In the Levant, mallows grow profusely after the first winter rains.
The leaves and stems are edible, and are widely collected for food, as they make an excellent garnish when chopped and fried in olive-oil with onions and spices. In Israel, the plant is renowned for having fed the besieged Jewish settlers in the 1948 Battle for Jerusalem, its use similar to spinach. A particularly famous preparation are the Khubeza patties. Apicius, a collection of Roman cookery recipes, mentions garum being used as a fish stock to flavor cooked mallows.
Malva olbia · Malva trimestris · Vervain mallow · Tree Mallow · Island mallow · Musk mallow · Cretan Hollyhock · Common mallow · Spotted Stalked Tree Mallow · Low mallow · Sea Mallow · High mallow
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Malva nicaeensis 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.
