Page authors: Don Knoke, David Giblin
Malva moschata
musk mallow
Specimens
Photos

Distribution: Occurring west of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to California, east to Montana and Wyoming, also in eastern North America.

Habitat: Roadsides, fields, and wastelots, where escaping from cultivation.

Flowers: May-July

Origin: Introduced from Europe

Growth Duration: Perennial

Conservation Status: Not of concern

Description:
General:

Perennial herb, glabrous or with purple-based hairs, the stems 3-6 dm. tall.

Leaves:

Leaves palmately veined, long-petiolate, with stipules 4-7 mm. long, oblong; blades of the basal leaves cordate-reniform, shallowly lobed or with rounded teeth; blades of the upper cauline leaves cleft to the base into 5 lobes, and these dissected into linear segments.

Flowers:

Flowers usually single in the leaf axils, white to deep pink, 4-5 cm. broad; calyx deeply divided, with 5 narrow sepals and 3 bracteoles, petals 5, obcordate, with a wedge-shaped base; filaments fused into a tube, the stamens freed from the tube single or in pairs; style branches 10-15, equal in number to the carpels, stigmatic most of their length, not capitate; ovary superior, the carpels in a ring around a central axis.

Fruits:

Carpels densely hairy on the back, separating at maturity.

Accepted Name:
Malva moschata L.
Publication: Sp. Pl. 2: 690. 1753.

Synonyms & Misapplications:
(none provided)
Additional Resources:

PNW Herbaria: Specimen records of Malva moschata in the Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria database.

WA Flora Checklist: Malva moschata checklist entry.

OregonFlora: Malva moschata information.

E-Flora BC: Malva moschata atlas page.

CalPhotos: Malva moschata photos.

USDA Plants: Malva moschata information.

14 photographs:
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