Malva
From Freepedia
| Malva | ||||||||||||
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| Image:Malva parviflora.jpg Malva parviflora | ||||||||||||
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About 30 species, including: |
Malva is a genus of about 30 species of herbaceous plants in the family Malvaceae, one of several closely related genera in the family to bear the common name mallow. The genus is widespread throughout the temperate, subtropical and tropical regions of Africa, Asia and Europe.
The leaves are alternate, palmately lobed; the flowers are from 0.5-5 cm diameter, with five pink or white petals.
Several species are widely grown as garden flowers, while some are invasive weeds, particularly in the Americas where they are not native.
Many species are edible as leaf vegetables. M. verticillata (Chinese: 冬寒菜; pinyin: dōngháncài) is grown on a limited commercial scale in China.
