{{Short description|Genus of flowering plants}} {{Other uses}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}} {{Automatic taxobox |image = Malva-sylvestris-20070430-1.jpg |image_caption = ''Malva sylvestris'' |display_parents = 2 |taxon = Malva |authority = L.<ref name=GRIN>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/genus.pl?7216 |title=''Malva'' L. |work=Germplasm Resources Information Network |publisher=United States Department of Agriculture |date=2007-03-12 |access-date=2010-02-16 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090506210831/http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/genus.pl?7216 |archive-date=6 May 2009}}</ref> |type_species = ''Malva sylvestris''<ref name="ing">{{Cite web |url=http://botany.si.edu/ing/INGsearch.cfm?searchword=Malva |title=''Malva'' L. |access-date=2008-05-09 |date=1996-02-09 |work=Index Nominum Genericorum |publisher=International Association for Plant Taxonomy }}</ref> |subdivision_ranks = Species |subdivision = See text |synonyms = *''Anthema'' <small>Medik.</small> *''Axolopha'' <small>Alef.</small> *''Bismalva'' <small>Medik.</small> *''Dinacrusa'' <small>G.Krebs</small> *''Lavatera'' <small>L.</small> *''Navaea'' <small>Webb & Berthel.</small> *''Olbia'' <small>Medik.</small> *''Saviniona'' <small>Webb & Berthel.</small> *''Stegia'' <small>DC.</small> |synonyms_ref = <ref name="60436984-2" /> }} thumb|right|190px|''Malva sylvestris'' [[File:پنیرک یا توله، بهبهان.jpg|alt=Cheeseweed, Behbahan|thumb|Cheeseweed, Behbahan, Iran]]
'''''Malva''''' is a genus of herbaceous or woody, annual, biennial, and perennial plants in the family Malvaceae. It is one of several closely related genera in the family to bear the common English name '''mallow'''. The genus is widespread throughout the temperate, subtropical and tropical regions of Africa, Asia and Europe.<ref name="60436984-2" />
The leaves are alternate, palmately lobed. The flowers are from 0.5–5 cm diameter, with five pink, lilac, purple or white petals.
==Etymology== The word "mallow" is derived from Old English "mealwe", which was imported from Latin "malva", cognate with Ancient Greek μαλάχη (malakhē) meaning "mallow", both perhaps reflecting a Mediterranean term.<ref>O.E.D (1989) 2nd.ed. vol.IX, p.271 col.3; P.Chantraine, ''Dictionnaire de la langue grecque,'' Klincksieck, Paris 1968, vol.2 p.662.</ref> The Italian linguist Vincenzo Cocco proposed an etymological link to Georgian ''malokhi'', comparing also Hebrew מַלּוּחַ (''malúakh'') meaning "salty".<ref>Gordon Douglas Young, Mark William Chavalas, Richard E. Averbeck, Kevin L. Danti, (eds.) ''Crossing boundaries and linking horizons: studies in honor of Michael C. Astour on his 80th birthday,'' CDL Press, 1997 pp.162-3.</ref>
In 1859, the colour mauve was named after the French name for this plant.<ref>{{Citation |title=mauve |date=2025-03-11 |work=Wiktionary, the free dictionary |url=https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mauve#French |access-date=2025-03-16 |language=en}}</ref>
==Uses== [[File:دشت گیاه پنیرک یا توله، بهبهان .jpg|alt=Wild Cheeseweed Field, Behbahan|thumb|Wild Cheeseweed Field, Behbahan]]
===Ornamental plant=== Very easily grown, short-lived perennials are often grown as ornamental plants.<ref name=Nyerges/>
===Food=== Many species are edible as leaf vegetables<ref name=Nyerges>{{cite book |last1=Nyerges |first1=Christopher |title=Foraging Wild Edible Plants of North America: More than 150 Delicious Recipes Using Nature's Edibles |date=2016 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-4930-1499-6 |page=100 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RwDHCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA100}}</ref> and commonly foraged. Known as ''ebegümeci'' in Turkish, the leaves are used as a vegetable in Turkey in various forms such as stuffing the leaves with bulgur or rice or using the boiled leaves with seasoning as side dish. ''Malva verticillata'' ({{lang-zh|c=冬寒菜|p=dōngháncài}}, Korean: {{lang|ko|아욱}} ''auk'') is grown on a limited commercial scale in China; when made as a herbal infusion, it is used for its colon cleansing properties and as a weight loss supplement.{{citation needed|date=July 2018}}
In the Levant, ''Malva nicaeensis'' leaves and fruit are used as food (e.g., khubeza patties, stuffed mallow, or as a stew),<ref name="nytimes" /> it is especially popular in areas with scarce food such as the Gaza Strip.<ref name="nytimes">{{cite news |last1=Hubbard |first1=Ben |last2=Bilal |first2=Shbair |title=To Battle Wartime Hunger, Gazans Turn to a Humble Leafy Green |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/07/world/middleeast/gaza-hunger-food-khobeza.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240408082319/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/07/world/middleeast/gaza-hunger-food-khobeza.html |archive-date=8 Apr 2024 |access-date=8 June 2025 |date=7 April 2024 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="haaretz">{{cite news |last1=Zbeedat |first1=Nagham |title=Khubeza, the wild plant Palestinians in Gaza are foraging for amid soaring hunger and war |url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-03-06/ty-article-magazine/.premium/khubeza-the-wild-plant-palestinians-in-gaza-are-foraging-for-amid-soaring-hunger-and-war/0000018e-13b5-d32b-ab8f-bbfd437f0000 |access-date=8 June 2025 |work=Haaretz.com |date=6 Mar 2024 |language=en}}</ref>
In Tunisia, mallow is traditionally consumed in a variety of dishes, typically with couscous.<ref>{{cite news |last1=يوسف |first1=آدم |title=عشبة الخبيزة... غذاء ودواء ومنافع عدة هجرها التونسيون |url=https://www.alaraby.co.uk/society/%D8%B9%D8%B4%D8%A8%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AE%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%B2%D8%A9-%D8%BA%D8%B0%D8%A7%D8%A1-%D9%88%D8%AF%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%A1-%D9%88%D9%85%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%81%D8%B9-%D8%B9%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D9%87%D8%AC%D8%B1%D9%87%D8%A7-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D9%88%D9%86%D8%B3%D9%8A%D9%88%D9%86 |access-date=8 June 2025 |work=Al-Araby Al-Jadeed |language=ar |trans-title=Malva... food, medicine, and numerous benefits that Tunisians have abandoned}}</ref>
Mild tasting, young mallow leaves can be a substitute for lettuce, whereas older leaves are better cooked as a leafy green vegetable. The buds and flowers can be used in salads. Small fruits that grow on the plants can also be eaten raw.<ref name=Nyerges/>
Bodos of Northeast India cultivate a subspecies of ''Malva'' called lapha and use it extensively in their traditional cuisine, although its use is not much known among other people of India except in the northern Indian state of Kashmir where ''Malva'' leaves are a highly cherished vegetable dish called "Soachal".{{citation needed|date=July 2024}}
===Medical use=== In Catalonia (Spain) they use the leaves to cure the sting or paresthesia of the stinging nettle (''Urtica dioica'').
Leaves of various species ''Malva'' have been used in traditional Austrian medicine internally as tea or externally as baths for treatment of disorders of the skin, gastrointestinal tract and respiratory tract.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Ethnopharmacological in vitro studies on Austria's folk medicine—An unexplored lore in vitro anti-inflammatory activities of 71 Austrian traditional herbal drugs|journal=Journal of Ethnopharmacology |volume=149 |issue=3 |pages=750–71 |year=2013 |last1=Vogl |first1=Sylvia |last2=Picker |first2=Paolo |last3=Mihaly-Bison |first3=Judit |last4=Fakhrudin |first4=Nanang |last5=Atanasov |first5=Atanas G. |last6=Heiss |first6=Elke H. |last7=Wawrosch |first7=Christoph |last8=Reznicek |first8=Gottfried |last9=Dirsch |first9=Verena M. |last10=Saukel |first10=Johannes |last11=Kopp |first11=Brigitte |doi=10.1016/j.jep.2013.06.007 |pmid=23770053 |pmc=3791396 |bibcode=2013JEthn.149..750V }}</ref> The leaves can also be chewed to soothe coughs or sore throats.<ref name=Nyerges/>
==Cultivation== Cultivation is by sowing the seeds directly outdoors in early spring. The seed is easy to collect, and they will often spread themselves by seed.
Some ''Malva'' species are invasive weeds, particularly in the Americas where, excluding those species native to Baja California and California, most were introduced.<ref name="60436984-2" />
==History== [[File:Portrait of Louise Vernet.png|thumb|''Portrait of Louise Vernet'' by Horace Vernet, 1830. She is shown clutching a mallow]] The third century BC physician Diphilus of Siphnus wrote that "[mallow] juice lubricates the windpipe, nourishes, and is easily digested."<ref>{{cite book |first=Alexis |last=Soyer|author-link=Alexis Soyer |title=The Pantropheon: Or, History of Food and Its Preparation : from the Earliest Ages of the World |url=https://archive.org/details/pantropheonorhi00soyegoog |year=1853 |publisher=Ticknor, Reed, and Fields |page=[https://archive.org/details/pantropheonorhi00soyegoog/page/n109 64]}}</ref> Horace mentions it in reference to his own diet, which he describes as very simple: "Me pascunt olivae, / me cichorea levesque malvae" ("As for me, olives, endives, and mallows provide sustenance").<ref>Horace, ''Odes 31, ver 15'', c. 30 BC</ref> Lord Monboddo describes his translation of an ancient epigram that demonstrates ''Malva'' was planted upon the graves of the ancients, stemming from the belief that the dead could feed on such perfect plants.<ref>Letter from Monboddo to John Hope, 29 April 1779; reprinted by William Knight 1900 {{ISBN|1-85506-207-0}}.{{page needed|date=February 2015}}</ref>
==Species== The following 61 species are accepted:<ref name="60436984-2" >{{cite web |url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:60436984-2 |title=''Malva'' Tourn. ex L. |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2017 |website=Plants of the World Online |publisher=Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew |access-date=14 June 2021 }}</ref> {{div col|colwidth=24em}} *''Malva acerifolia'' <small>(Cav.) Alef.</small> *''Malva × adulterina'' <small>Wallr.</small> *''Malva aegyptia'' <small>L.</small> *''Malva aethiopica'' <small>C.J.S.Davis</small> *''Malva agrigentina'' <small>(Tineo) Soldano, Banfi & Galasso</small> *''Malva alcea'' <small>L.</small> – greater musk-mallow, vervain mallow *''Malva arborea'' <small>(L.) Webb & Berthel.</small> *''Malva × arbosii'' <small>Sennen</small> *''Malva assurgentiflora'' <small>(Kellogg) M.F.Ray</small> – island mallow, mission mallow, royal mallow, island tree mallow *''Malva bucharica'' <small>Iljin</small> *''Malva cachemiriana'' <small>(Cambess.) Alef.</small> *''Malva cavanillesiana'' <small>Raizada</small> *''Malva × clementii'' <small>(Cheek) Stace</small> *''Malva × columbretensis'' <small>(Juan & M.B.Crespo) Juan & M.B.Crespo</small> *''Malva cretica'' <small>Cav.</small> *''Malva durieui'' <small>Spach</small> *''Malva × egarensis'' <small>Cadevall</small> *''Malva flava'' <small>(Desf.) Alef.</small> *''Malva hispanica'' <small>L.</small> *''Malva × inodora'' <small>Ponert</small> *''Malva × intermedia'' <small>Boreau</small> *''Malva leonardii'' <small>I.Riedl</small> *''Malva lindsayi'' <small>(Moran) M.F.Ray</small> *''Malva × litoralis'' <small>Dethard. ex Rchb.</small> *''Malva longiflora'' <small>(Boiss. & Reut.) Soldano, Banfi & Galasso</small> *''Malva ludwigii'' <small>(L.) Soldano, Banfi & Galasso</small> *''Malva lusitanica'' <small>(L.) Valdés</small> *''Malva maroccana'' <small>(Batt. & Trab.) Verloove & Lambinon</small> *''Malva microphylla'' <small>(Baker f.) Molero & J.M.Monts.</small> *''Malva moschata'' <small>L.</small> – musk-mallow *''Malva multiflora'' <small>(Cav.) Soldano, Banfi & Galasso</small> *''Malva neglecta'' <small>Wallr.</small> – dwarf mallow, buttonweed, cheeseplant, cheeseweed, common mallow, roundleaf mallow *''Malva nicaeensis'' <small>All.</small> – French mallow, bull mallow *''Malva oblongifolia'' <small>(Boiss.) Soldano, Banfi & Galasso</small> *''Malva occidentalis'' <small>(S.Watson) M.F.Ray</small> *''Malva olbia'' <small>(L.) Alef.</small> *''Malva oxyloba'' <small>Boiss.</small> *''Malva pacifica'' <small>M.F.Ray</small> *''Malva pamiroalaica'' <small>Iljin</small> *''Malva parviflora'' <small>L.</small> – least mallow, cheeseweed, cheeseweed mallow, small-whorl mallow *''Malva phoenicea'' <small>(Vent.) Alef.</small> *''Malva preissiana'' <small>Miq.</small> – Australian hollyhock *''Malva punctata'' <small>(All.) Alef.</small> *''Malva pusilla'' <small>Sm.</small> – small mallow *''Malva qaiseri'' <small>Abedin</small> *''Malva setigera'' <small>K.F.Schimp. & Spenn.</small> *''Malva stenopetala'' <small>(Coss. & Durieu ex Batt.) Soldano, Banfi & Galasso</small> *''Malva stipulacea'' <small>Cav.</small> *''Malva subovata'' <small>(DC.) Molero & J.M.Monts.</small> *''Malva sylvestris'' <small>L.</small> – common mallow, high mallow *''Malva × tetuanensis'' <small>Pau</small> *''Malva thuringiaca'' <small>(L.) Vis.</small> *''Malva tournefortiana'' <small>L.</small> *''Malva trimestris'' <small>(L.) Salisb.</small> *''Malva unguiculata'' <small>(Desf.) Alef.</small> *''Malva valdesii'' <small>(Molero & J.M.Monts.) Soldano, Banfi & Galasso</small> *''Malva verticillata'' <small>L.</small> – Chinese mallow, cluster mallow *''Malva vidalii'' <small>(Pau) Molero & J.M.Monts.</small> *''Malva waziristanensis'' <small>Blatt.</small> *''Malva weinmanniana'' <small>(Besser ex Rchb.) Conran</small> *''Malva xizangensis'' <small>Y.S.Ye, L.Fu & D.X.Duan</small> {{div col end}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category|Malva}} *{{Wikispecies-inline}} *{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Mallow (plant) |display=Mallow |volume=17 |pages=492–493 |short=x}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q147325}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Malva Category:Malvaceae genera