Malva parviflora
Malva
alkali mallow, cheeseweed, cheeseweed mallow, little mallow, mauve parviflore, small-flower mallow, small-whorl mallow
cheeses, cheeseweed, mallow, mauve
usually erect or ascending, rarely decumbent, wide-branched, glabrous or sparsely stellate-hairy distally.
erect, ascending, or trailing.
stipules persistent, broadly lanceolate, 4–5 × 2–3 mm;
petiole 2–3(–4) times as long as blade;
blade suborbiculate-cordate or reniform, mostly shallowly 5–7-lobed or angled, 2–8(–10) × 2–8(–10) cm, base cordate (to nearly truncate), lobes deltate or rounded, margins evenly crenate, apex rounded to broadly acute, surfaces glabrous or hairy, especially at base, hairs simple and stellate.
stipules persistent or deciduous, linear, lanceolate, triangular, or ovate to ± falcate;
blade orbiculate or reniform, unlobed or palmately 3–7(–9)-lobed or divided, base cordate to truncate, margins crenate to dentate.
axillary, flowers solitary or in 2–4-flowered fascicles.
usually axillary, flowers usually in fascicles, sometimes solitary, sometimes terminal racemes;
involucel present, bractlets persistent, 3, distinct or basally connate (or recurved pedicel), not inflated, oblate-discoid, usually depressed in center, around broad axis, without persistent swollen style base, ± indurate, glabrous or hairy;
mericarps 6–15(–20), drying tan or brown, 1-celled, wedge-shaped (triangular in cross section), oblong to reniform, beak or cusp absent, sides thin and papery or thicker, margins usually edged, apex rounded, indehiscent.
0.2–0.4 cm, usually to 1 cm in fruit, shorter than calyx;
involucellar bractlets distinct, not adnate to calyx, linear to filiform, (1–)2–3 × 0.3 mm, shorter than calyx, margins entire, surfaces glabrous or slightly ciliate.
calyx 3–4.5 mm, to 7–8 mm in fruit, glabrous or stellate-hairy, lobes wide-spreading outward in fruit, orbiculate-deltate, reticulate-veined, apex often abruptly acuminate, short-ciliate or not, scarious in fruit;
petals white to pale lilac, drying pinkish or whitish, or faded, veins not darker, 3–4.5(–5) mm, subequal to or only slightly longer than calyx, glabrous;
staminal column 1.5 mm, glabrous;
style 10- or 11-branched;
stigmas 10 or 11.
1.5–2 mm.
1 per mericarp, adherent to mericarp wall, usually not readily separated from it, reniform-rounded, notched, glabrous.
6–7 mm diam.;
mericarps 10 or 11, 2–2.5 mm, apical face strongly reticulate-wrinkled, sides appearing strongly, radially ribbed, margins sharp-edged, toothed, narrowly winged, surface glabrous or hairy.
= 21.
= 42.
Malva parviflora
Malva
Malva parviflora is native in southwestern Europe and the Mediterranean region to India; it is commonly introduced in many parts of the world. It is distinguished from similar species by its short petals (often equaling the calyx), the lack of darker lines on the petals, and the wide-spreading calyx lobes in fruit. The sharp-edged or winged mericarp with a conspicuously reticulate-pitted surface is likewise distinctive.
Malva parviflora is more heat-tolerant than most Malva species. It is especially common as a weed from California to Texas. Northern records should be checked because some may be based upon waifs and others may be based on misidentifications. In some older floras, M. parviflora was confused with M. rotundifolia, a name rejected because of its inconsistent use for this as well as for M. pusilla and other species. It is sometimes cultivated as a forage crop in semi-arid regions.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Species 30–40 (11 in the flora).
Some species of Malva are weedy; five or six in the flora area generally occur in cultivation as ornamentals or as vegetables and occasionally escape. Some species previously treated within Lavatera (see M. F. Ray 1995, 1998) are here included in Malva based upon molecular evidence. Traditionally, Lavatera and Malva were separated by the presence of partially connate relatively wide involucellar bractlets in the former and distinct generally narrow bractlets in the latter. The annual species of Althaea (sect. Hirsutae Iljin ex Olyanitskaya & Tzvelev) may also belong within Malva, but have been kept separate here. Nomenclature in Althaea, Lavatera, and Malva is still in flux and a satisfactory classification is not yet available. Intergeneric hybrids among some species of all three genera suggest a close relationship.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Shrubs, 1–4 m; petals 25–45 mm; calyces 12–15 mm; mericarps 6–10. | M. assurgentiflora |
1. Herbs or subshrubs, 0.2–3 m; petals 3–35(–45) mm (if subshrubs, petals to 20 mm); calyces 3–10(–15) mm; mericarps 6–15(–20) | → 2 |
2. Distal leaf blades deeply (3–)5–7-lobed; petals 20–35 mm | → 3 |
2. Distal leaf blades unlobed or shallowly lobed; petals 3–30(–45) mm | → 4 |
3. Hairs stellate-canescent; involucellar bractlets ovate or ovate-deltate to obovate; mericarps 18–20, glabrous or sparsely hairy. | M. alcea |
3. Hairs usually simple, sometimes stellate; involucellar bractlets linear to narrowly oblanceolate or elliptic; mericarps 11–15, densely hirsute apically. | M. moschata |
4. Petals (12–)16–30(–45) mm, length 2 1/2–3(–4) times calyx; involucellar bractlets distinct, sometimes adnate to calyx in basal 1 mm. | M. sylvestris |
4. Petals 3–15(–20) mm, length 1–2(–5) times calyx; involucellar bractlets distinct or partly connate and/or adnate to calyx (if petals longer than 14 mm, involucellar bractlets connate) | → 5 |
5. Involucellar bractlets connate in proximal 1/3–1/2, adnate to calyx, ovate-deltate, ovate, or round; petals 10–20 mm; stems usually erect, rarely prostrate, 1–3 m | → 6 |
5. Involucellar bractlets distinct, basally adnate to calyx (in M. nicaeensis) or not, filiform, linear, lanceolate, oblong-lanceolate, ovate, or obovate; petals 3–15 mm; stems erect or ascending to decumbent, procumbent, prostrate, or trailing, 0.2–0.8(–2.5) m | → 7 |
6. Involucel longer than calyx; leaf blade surfaces densely soft-stellate-hairy; petals rose to lavender with 5 darker veins; stem base usually woody. | M. arborea |
6. Involucel shorter than calyx; leaf blade surfaces sparsely stellate-hairy; petals pale pink to white, usually with 3 darker veins; stem base not woody. | M. pseudolavatera |
7. Involucellar bractlets basally adnate to calyx, broadly lanceolate to ovate or obovate; petals drying bluish, usually with darker veins. | M. nicaeensis |
7. Involucellar bractlets not adnate to calyx, filiform, linear, lanceolate, or oblong-lanceolate; petals drying pinkish or whitish, or faded, veins not much darker | → 8 |
8. Involucellar bractlets filiform to linear; calyces accrescent, lobes spreading outward exposing mericarps; petals 3–4.5(–5) mm, white to pale lilac; mericarp margins narrowly winged, toothed. | M. parviflora |
8. Involucellar bractlets linear, oblanceolate, or lanceolate; calyces not accrescent, or, if so, lobes usually enclosing mericarps; petals (3–)5–13 mm, pale lilac, pink, pinkish, purplish, to nearly white or whitish; mericarp margins not winged, sometimes toothed | → 9 |
9. Stems erect; plants 0.5–2.5 m; leaf blades 3–10(–25) cm; pedicels stout and rigid in fruit. | M. verticillata |
9. Stems prostrate or trailing to ascending; plants usually 0.2–0.6 m; leaf blades 1–3.5(–6) cm; pedicels slender and flexible in fruit | → 10 |
10. Petals 6–13 mm, length 2 times calyx; mericarps hairy, smooth to slightly roughened or reticulate. | M. neglecta |
10. Petals 3–6 mm, length subequal to or slightly exceeding calyx; mericarps hairy or glabrate, strongly rugose-reticulate. | M. pusilla |
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