Well, our flowers are holding up so far, it’s looking like we’ll be able to continue with more Flower Friday’s! Today’s focus is definitely a favorite, Mallow!
While the name of this flower is technically Malva, we prefer to call it by its English name of Mallow. You’d find this flower as a native in temperate and tropical regions of Africa, Asia and Europe. Despite this relatively small footprint, many passionate growers love this flower and grow various species all over the world as annuals. There are around 60 different species of Malva that are recognized.
Like with many flowers, Mallow were discussed quite early in human civilization. One of the earliest references of it comes from Diphilus, a Greek physician, who recognized that mallow featured some usefulness in early medicine. It was also recognized under the Roman empire as a valuable food source, with Horace writing that his diet consisted primarily of olives, endive and mallow.
One of the interesting taxonomy based things about Malva is that the genus’ family is similarly named, Malvaceae. This family of flowers is likely familiar to you with a couple of the other popular genus being Hollyhock and Hibiscus. Collectively, this family of flowers are sometimes referred to as “The Mallows,” but Malva is the “OG” mallow, if you will.
If you’re wondering if marshmallows are possibly related to this plant, you’d be correct. As far back as the ancient Egyptions, a confection was derived from a specific species root and used to develop this historic treat. Perhaps sadly, modern marshmallows no longer contain marshmallow root. Another interesting fact, the color mauve was named after this flower based on the French word for mallow.
True to early human knowledge, many species of Mallow are considered edible as a leaf vegetable. While it’s not particularly popular as such stateside, you would find mallow used in places like Turkey and throughout much of western Asia. The leaves are often harvested young and eaten raw, whereas more mature leaves are cooked not unlike spinach. Some varieties produce small fruit, called cheeses, which can also be eaten. (And yes, that’s because they look like baby cheeses.)
As we often see with early use in civilized medicine, mallow has been quite useful there as well. In Spain, the leaves are used to cure the stinging sensation associated with contact with nettles. Some mallow species have been used world over, where it is used in treating skin disorders, respiratory issues and gastrointestinal problems. It has also been used to treat wounds, burns, tonsilitis and many other ailments with therapeutic effect.
When we see a plant’s use in more traditional medicines, we frequently also see modern pharmacology simply playing catch up. Several mallow species are shown to be extremely bioactive, featuring many wide reaching benefits. Studies have shown positive antioxidant, antimicrobial, anticancer and anti-inflammatory capabilities. Mallow has become a pharmacologically interesting plant, with many potential treatments across many different ailments and diseases. Most interesting, certain mallow extracts have demonstrated cytotoxic activity against human cancer cells.
We love mallow and try to grow it every year. We’ve been really digging on this particular species, it’s colors are just over the top cool. Green is a rare color to see in many flower petals, especially such a vivid and reflective representation of green. We still have many, many species and cultivars of mallow to try out, so it’s still way too early to pick a favorite yet!
Happy Friday, everyone. Hope you all have a wonderful Labor Day weekend!
