
Malvaceae (mal-VA-see-ee)
Iconic Features
- Broad leaves, usually palmately lobed
- Showy funnel- or saucer-shaped flowers
- Flower parts in fives
- Numerous stamens fused into a tube
Description (Jepson)
- Eudicotyledons (eudicots) – a major lineage of flowering plants including most plants traditionally described as dicots and generally characterized by
- 2 seed leaves (dicotyledon)
- Netted (reticulate) leaf venation
- Flower parts in fours and fives
- Pollen grains with 3 pores (tricolpate)
- Vascular bundles in stem arranged in a ring
- Taproot system
- Annuals, herbaceous perennials, shrubs, and small trees
- Leaves
- Alternate (1 leaf at each junction with stem) and simple (not divided into leaflets)
- Usually palmately lobed and toothed
- Often with minute starlike (stellate) hairs
- Flowers
- Inflorescence (flower arrangement) in many forms
- Often with bracts (modified leaves) at base
- Usually bisexual, radially symmetric, funnel-shaped flowers
- 5 petals and 5 partially-fused sepals (usually green, outer flower parts)
- Numerous fused stamens (male flower parts) usually form a tube surrounding the pistil (female flower part)
- Ovary superior (above the attachment of other flower parts)
- Fruit is usually a capsule (a dry, multi-chambered fruit that splits open at maturity) with many wedge-shaped segments, like a cheese wheel
- Inflorescence (flower arrangement) in many forms
Notes
- Approximately 4,000 species worldwide, especially in warm climates
- Includes hollyhocks, hibiscus, cheeseweed, checkermallow, and flannel bush
- Also includes the economically-important plants cocoa (Theobroma cacao) and cotton (Gossypium species)
- Most species have mucilaginous vegetation with natural gums, which become gelatinous when crushed
- The Old World herb Althaea officinalis, which grows in marshes, is the original source of marshmallows (Petkewich 2006)
- Ancient Egyptians were known to use the boiled root pulp as a cough medicine and confection
- 19th-century confectioners whipped and molded the root sap into a fluffy candy
- Today, most “marshmallows” are made from gelatin
- The seed pods of okra (Abelmoschus esculentus), which become slimy when cooked, are used in some gumbos
- The Old World herb Althaea officinalis, which grows in marshes, is the original source of marshmallows (Petkewich 2006)
- Scientific and common name from the included genus Malva, from the Greek malache, “to soften,” referring to the leaves and a soothing skin ointment made from the seeds
- Represented by 3 species at Edgewood
Specific References
Petkewich, R. 2006, April 17. What’s that stuff? Marshmallow. Chemical & Engineering News: Science & Technology 84: 41.
Browse Some Edgewood Plants in this Family

