''Malva verticillata'', also known as the Chinese mallow or cluster mallow, is a species of the mallow

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

Malva ''Malva'' is a genus of herbaceous 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 temper ...

'' in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

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 ...

found in

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both Geography, geographical and culture, ethno-cultural terms. The modern State (polity), states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. ...

from Pakistan to China. ''M. verticillata'' is an annual or biennial that grow up to 1.7 meters in high and can inhabit woodland areas of different soil types. The small, symmetrical flowers have five white, pink or red petals (0.8 cm) and 13 or more stamens. Each flower has 3 narrow epicalyx bracts. The fruit is a dry, hairless

nutlet A nut is a fruit consisting of a hard or tough nutshell protecting a kernel which is usually edible. In general usage and in a culinary sense, a wide variety of dry seeds are called nuts, but in a botanical context "nut" implies that the shell ...

. The leaves are simple and alternate. In temperate climates, it flowers from July to September and the seeds from August to October. The flowers of the plant are self-fertile but can also be pollinated by insects.

Distribution

The species originates in Asia. It is widely distributed in Europe and is considered an invasive plant. It is also present in North America, including most states in the USA.

Uses

The plant was an important leaf vegetable in pre-Han China and widely cultivated. Mallow is mentioned in

Huangdi Neijing ''Huangdi Neijing'' (), literally the ''Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor'' or ''Esoteric Scripture of the Yellow Emperor'', is an ancient Chinese medical text or group of texts that has been treated as a fundamental doctrinal source for Chines ...

as one of the five consumable herbs (五菜) which included mallow (葵),

pea The pea is most commonly the small spherical seed or the seed-pod of the flowering plant species ''Pisum sativum''. Each pod contains several peas, which can be green or yellow. Botanically, pea pods are fruit, since they contain seeds and d ...

leaves (藿), ''

Allium macrostemon ''Allium macrostemon'' (野蒜, ノビル), Chinese garlic, Japanese garlic or long-stamen onion, is a species of wild onion widespread across much of East Asia. It is known from many parts of China, as well as Japan (incl Ryukyu Islands), Kore ...

'' (薤),

Welsh onion ''Allium fistulosum'', the Welsh onion, also commonly called bunching onion, long green onion, Japanese bunching onion, and spring onion, is a species of perennial plant, often considered to be a kind of scallion. The species is very similar ...

(蔥) and

Garlic chives ''Allium tuberosum'' (garlic chives, Oriental garlic, Asian chives, Chinese chives, Chinese leek) is a species of plant native to the Chinese province of Shanxi, and cultivated and naturalized elsewhere in Asia and around the world. Description ...

(韭). It was deemed to be a major vegetable until the Northern Wei, supposedly. The technology for domesticating mallow was well recorded in ''

Qimin Yaoshu The ''Qimin Yaoshu'' is the most completely preserved of the ancient Chinese agricultural texts, and was written by the Northern Wei Dynasty official Jia Sixie.Wenhua Li, 200Agro-Ecological Farming Systems in ChinaTaylor & Francis, p. 26 -27 Th ...

''. The acreages dwindled since the Tang dynasty. In his ''Nong Shu'' 'Agricultural Manual'' Wang Zhen wrote that mallow came top among various vegetables, because "it could be alternative in years of crop failure, or be marinated to serve with staples". There were rare occasions that people cultivated or consumed mallow during the Ming dynasty. It is also grown as an ornamental plant.

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control verticillata Flora of temperate Asia Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus