data and T.platyphyllos Scopoli, have been too scarce in recent centuries to
have been drawn on for this purpose, and the hybrids between them,T.
×europaea,so generally planted, have necessarily stood in.
Malvaceae
Malva sylvestris Linnaeus
mallow, hock
Europe, North Africa; introduced into North America, Australasia
Lavatera arborea Linnaeus
tree-mallow
southern and south-western Europe, North Africa; introduced into
North America, Australasia
Althaea officinalis Linnaeus 4
marsh-mallow
central and southern Europe, western Asia, North
Africa; introduced into North America
Malva sylvestris, Lavatera arborea and Althaea
officinalis are all mucilaginous in different
degrees and have been utilised since ancient
times more or less interchangeably, depending
on which of them happened to grow most
conveniently to hand. The common
mallow,M. sylvestris,much the most
generally distributed, is widely mis-
called ‘marsh-mallow’, a name which
properly belongs to A. officinalis,a
relatively scarce plant of saltmarshes
(though formerly much grown in cot-
tage gardens). Tree-mallow,L. arborea,is
similarly a coastal species but also very
restricted in its range. These two last
would doubtless have been preferred
toM. sylvestris on account of their
greater robustness and thicker leaves
but over much of the British Isles
would not have been available and
St John’s-worts to Primulas 107Malva sylvestris,
mallow (Green 1902, fig. 112)