Citation: L., Sp. Pl. 687 (1753).

Derivation: The Latin name for this and a number of allied genera, commonly referred to as mallows.

Synonymy: Not Applicable

Common name: Mallows, marshmallows.

Description:
Annual or perennial herbs, with 1- to several-armed stellate hairs; leaves long-petiolate, lobed, toothed.

Flowers bisexual, clustered rarely solitary in leaf axils, pedicellate, obscure or (outside S.Aust.) showy; epicalyx of 3 free segments; sepals fused into a tube with 5 triangular lobes; petals 5, emarginate, purple, pink or white; staminal tube with many anthers at the apex; carpels several to many (7-12 in S.Aust.) in a single whorl; stigmas linear, along the inner face of the filiform style branch; ovule 1 in each carpel.

Fruit a discoid schizocarp more or less depressed in the middle, the mericarps arranged around and separating from a persistent central column, 1-seeded, indehiscent.

Distribution:  About 40 species in northern temperate countries. (W. R. Barker (1977), The species of Malva L. and Lavatera L. (Malvaceae) naturalised in S.Aust., J. Adelaide Bot. Gard. 1:107-114).

Biology: No text

Taxonomic notes: Very closely allied to Lavatera, the sole distinction of the fusion or freedom of the epicalyx segments breaking down in the European flora, but satisfactorily separating our species.

Key to Species:

1. Epicalyx segments ovate, 0.8-3 times longer than broad; mericarps with angles on the dorsal surface sharp but not winged, entire	M. nicaeensis 1.
1. Epicalyx segments linear, c. 5-15 times longer than broad; mericarps with angles on the dorsal surface narrowly winged, more or less dentate or undulate	M. parviflora 2.

Author: Prepared by W. R. Barker