''Malva olbia'' (previously know as ''Lavatera olbia''), the garden tree mallow, is a species of flowering plant in the family

Malvaceae Malvaceae, or the mallows, is a family of flowering plants estimated to contain 244 genera with 4225 known species. Well-known members of economic importance include okra, cotton, cacao and durian. There are also some genera containing familiar ...

. It is native to the western Mediterranean, and has been introduced to California. A vigorous perennial shrub reaching , the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nor ...

considers it to be a good plant to attract pollinators.

Cultivars

It has a number of commercially available cultivars, which may be hybrids with '' Malva thuringiaca'', dubbed '' Malva × clementii''. The cultivars 'Rosea' and 'RedRum' have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. Other cultivars include 'Barnsley' (with white aging to shell pink flowers), 'Lilac Lady', 'Eye Catcher', 'Pink Frills', 'Wembdon Variegated', and 'Saxtead'.

References

olbia Olbia (, ; sc, Terranoa; sdn, Tarranoa) is a city and commune of 60,346 inhabitants (May 2018) in the Italian insular province of Sassari in northeastern Sardinia, Italy, in the historical region of Gallura. Called ''Olbia'' in the Roman age ...

Flora of Southwestern Europe Flora of Italy Flora of Sicily Flora of Morocco Flora of Algeria Flora of Tunisia Flora of Libya Plants described in 1862 {{Malveae-stub