Common mallow

Description

Common mallow is a herbaceous plant, often biennial or short-lived perennial, with erect or ascending stems that can exceed a metre. The leaves are palmate, with five to seven lobes, and the flowers, a few centimetres across, have five petals of a distinctive pinkish-purple marked with darker veins that converge toward the centre. Flowering is very long, continuing through the whole warm season.

Habitat and distribution

Native to Europe, North Africa and western Asia, it is now found across much of the temperate world. It is a typical ruderal plant, growing wild along roadsides, on waste ground, against walls and on disturbed soil, where it quickly colonises bare earth.

Properties and uses

It is one of the oldest and best-known medicinal plants. Flowers and leaves are rich in mucilage with emollient and soothing properties, traditionally used in infusions and decoctions to ease the throat and airways and to aid digestion. The young leaves and flowers are also edible, eaten in salads or cooked.

Cultivation

It is extremely easy to grow and needs almost no care. It grows in full sun or part shade, in any ordinary well-drained soil, and tolerates both drought and cold well. Sow in spring; it readily self-sows.

• Sow directly in place in spring
• Gather flowers just as they open for drying
• Cut back spent stems to prolong flowering

Did you know?

The small round, flattened fruits, rich in mucilage, resemble miniature cheeses, which is the origin of many folk names linked to bread and cheese. Its Latin name alludes to its soft, emollient nature.