''Malva nicaeensis'' is a species of flowering plant in the
mallow family known by the common names bull mallow and French mallow.
Description
''Malva nicaeensis'' is an annual or biennial herb producing a hairy, upright stem up to 60 centimeters long. The leaves are up to 12 centimeters wide and have several slight lobes along the edges.
Flowers appear in the leaf axils, each with pinkish to light purple petals around a centimeter long. The disc-shaped fruit has several segments.
Plant uses and properties
In the
Levant
The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is ...
, mallows grow profusely after the first winter rains. The leaves and stems are edible, and are widely collected by indigenous peoples for food, as they make an excellent garnish when chopped and fried in olive-oil with onions and spices. In Israel, the plant is renowned for having fed the besieged Jewish population in the 1948
Battle for Jerusalem
The Battle for Jerusalem took place during the 1947–1948 civil war phase of the 1947–1949 Palestine war. It saw Jewish and Arab militias in Mandatory Palestine, and later the militaries of Israel and Transjordan, fight for control over ...
, its use similar to
spinach. A particularly famous preparation are the
Khubeza patties.
Apicius
''Apicius'', also known as ''De re culinaria'' or ''De re coquinaria'' (''On the Subject of Cooking'') is a collection of Roman cookery recipes. It is thought to have been compiled in the fifth century AD. Its language is in many ways closer ...
, a collection of Roman cookery recipes, mentions
garum
Garum is a fermented fish sauce that was used as a condiment in the cuisines of Phoenicia, ancient Greece, Rome, Carthage and later Byzantium. Liquamen is a similar preparation, and at times they were synonymous. Although garum enjoyed its gre ...
being used as a
fish stock to flavor cooked mallows.
Apicius
''Apicius'', also known as ''De re culinaria'' or ''De re coquinaria'' (''On the Subject of Cooking'') is a collection of Roman cookery recipes. It is thought to have been compiled in the fifth century AD. Its language is in many ways closer ...
, ''De Re Coquinaria'' (Book III, sectio
VIII
References
External links
*
Jepson Manual Treatment*
*
*
nicee
Flora of North Africa
Flora of Western Asia
Taxa named by Carlo Allioni
Flora of Malta
{{Malveae-stub