| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
![]()
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
Botanical name: Malva pusilla Family: Malvaceae (Mallow family)
Synonyms: Malva rotundifolia L., Malva lignescens Small Mallow is an annual or biennial herb, usually
creeping, many branched, 20-50 cm tall, scabrous. It is very often
confused with
Common Mallow. Leaf-stalks are 3-12
cm, leaves kidney-shaped to round, 5-7-lobed, toothed, 1-3 x 1-4 cm,
papery, below finely velvet-hairy, above sparsely velutinous, base
heart-shaped. Flowers are borne in clusters of 2-5 (sometimes more) in
leaf axils; flower-stalks usually over 10 mm long, mostly twice as long
as calyx, reflexed in fruit. False sepals bractlets are 3, equaling
calyx, narrowly linear, at least three times as long as wide. Flowers
are bisexual, with many stamens, filaments united into staminal column,
surrounding a single pistil with approximately l0 stigmas. Calyx is
divided to two-thirds of its length into 5 ovate- triangular lobes,
margin long-fringed with hairsd, barely enlarging in fruit. Petals are
whitish pink, oblong- lanceshaped, flat or shallowly notched, barely
surpassing calyx by no more than a few mm, 1.4-5.2 mm (sometimes up to
12 mm) long, claws bearded. In the bud, flowers are distinctly twisted
(contorted) which persists even after flower opening . Small Mallow is
native to Europe, naturalized in hill stations of India.
Medicinal uses: ![]()
• Is this flower misidentified? If yes, |