Malva nicaeensis

Malva nicaeensis
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Malvales
Family:	Malvaceae
Genus:	Malva
Species:	M. nicaeensis
Binomial name
	Malva nicaeensis; All.
Synonyms
	Malva arvensis

Malva nicaeensis is a species of flowering plant in the mallow family known by the common names bull mallow^[1] and French mallow.^[2]

Description

Malva nicaeensis is an annual or biennial herb producing a hairy, upright stem up to 60 centimeters long.^[3] The leaves are up to 12 centimeters wide and have several slight lobes along the edges.

Flowers appear in the leaf axils, each with pinkish to light purple petals around a centimeter long. The disc-shaped fruit has several segments.

Plant uses and properties

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 population 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.^[4]

Botanical gallery

Plant form, general
Plant form closer
Epicalyx 3 broad segments, lacking stellate hairs
Flower, pinky with bold veins, may be paler
Flower showing calyx with 5 broad parts, epicalyx with 3 broad parts, sparsely hairy with simple hairs
Flower, petals without hairs, or with little, at centre
Central stigma
Petal, no hairs or scarcely so
Fruit, lightly hairy (may be hairless), showing wrinkles
Fruit, very hairy form
Flowers showing features together
Bracts
Plant area
Leafage area
Leaf
Leaf upperside
Leaf underside
Hairs generally simple with conspicuous bulbous bases (as M. sylvestris)
Plant base
Plant base