Common Name

Australian Hollyhock, Native Hollyhock

Family

Malvaceae

Notes

Annual or perennial forb to 4m tall. Leaves alternating up the stems, bases cordate, 2-20cm long, 20-200mm wide, flat, hairy, lobed and toothed. Flowers pink, with 5 petals, in clusters on stems originating at the bases of the leaves. Generally inland.

Differs from Malva preissiana in that the flowers are pink; it has a main central stalk with a series of increasingly smaller lateral branches as you go up the stem, often creating a pyramidal shape; and the leaves are well spaced on the stems, the upper surface of the leaves much less hairy than the lower.

Description and photo (as Lavatera plebeia) in G.M. Cunningham, WE Mulham, PL Milthorpe and J H Leigh (1981 and later printings) Plants of Western New South Wales page 478.

Partial description in Conran, J.G., Barker, R.M. & Rippey, E., (2012) Malva weinmanniana (Besser ex Rchb.) Conran, a new name for the pink-flowered form of M. preissiana Schltdl. (Malvaceae). Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens 25: pages 18-21