Intriguing World of Weeds Cheeseweed-The Common Mallows1

LARRY W. MITICH2

INTRODUCTION Romans "ate the seed and boiled the leaves like cabbage" (11). The Roman poet Horace (65-8 B.C.) Because of its dissipated appearance and enormous wrote that eating mallow "develops the intellectual profusion on waysides and in vacant lots during north­ faculties and encourages the practice of virtue." Pliny ern California winters, mallow (Malva spp.) is one of the Elder (A.O. 23-79), author of the immense Natural the last uncultivated herbs I would History and adviser to Roman statesmen, declared that have considered eating. My mis­ "any person taking a spoonful of common Mallow will take. Several species of weedy that day be spared from all maladies that might come Malva have been used interchange­ his way" (2). (Pliny neglected to eat his mallow on the ably for food, tea, and medicine for morning of Aug. 24, A.O. 79, and subsequently suffo­ thousands of years-among them lit­ cated during the eruption of Vesuvius.) Pythagoras tle mallow (Malva parviflora L. #3 wrote that eating the plant ''reduced the passions" and MALPA), common mallow (M. cleansed the stomach and mind (11). neglecta Wallr. # MALNE), round­ Children traditionally have eaten the green immature leaf mallow (M. rotundifolia L.), fruits of malva. The sepals need not be removed. Raw, and high mallow (M. sylvestris L. # these fruits are crisp and slightly sweet; according to MALSI). Harrington (7), they are good for salads, pickling, or soups. The malvas are related to okra [Abelmoschus USE AS FOOD AND MEDICINE esculentus (L.) Moench], and the fruits make good culinary sense viewed in this context. In the first century A.O., the Greek herbalist People of many countries eat malva's young tender Pedanius Dioscorides (3) wrote paradoxically that mal­ shoots and leaves as a potherb, salad green, or soup low was "bad for the stomach, and good for the belly vegetable. These parts have a mild flavor and a muci­ ..•. " Ointment prepared from the plant provided relief laginous juice (7). The leaves and stems of dried young from bee and wasp stings. An ointment made with salt plants can be brewed into tea; natural food vendors ,, and honey cured ulcers of the eye, ointment made with even sell them commercially for this purpose (7). ~ oil helped burns and skin inflammations, and "if a man Mallows are studied for use as forage, fodder, or beforehand be anointed therewith . . . hee remaines silage. However, horses, sheep, and cattle reportedly unstrikable." In addition, mallow soothed various gnaw­ have exhibited signs of poisoning after eating fresh ing internal pains and "doth assuage the griefs about ye mallow (5). The symptoms, muscular tremors called bladder" (3). 'shivers' or 'staggers,' have been experimentally veri­ Medieval doctors recommended it for illnesses of the fied in Australia and reported from Africa but have not bladder, kidneys, and bowels-strong decoctions of it been confirmed in the United States (10). Most aoima1s "provoketh lusty urine" (11). In the United States in the apparently recover if kept calm. Toxicologists have not 19th century, it was prescribed as "an excellent demul­ discovered the toxic principle (5). cent in coughs [and] irritations of the air passages... " Ingestion by chickens causes egg (11). The soothing mucilage found in its leaves may yolks to leak iron and turn pink; have made malva useful in cough syrups (15). Some this is caused by the unsaturated still use malva extract for coughs and colds and for fatty acids malvalic acid and Ster· irritations of the alimentary canal (11). culic acid (5). Toxic concentra­ tions of nitrates have been found in M. parviflora (10).

1No. 30 of the series "Intriguing World of Weeds," Contributions are wel­ come and will be acknowledged. Send contributions to I.any W. Milich. NAMES AND NOMENCLATURE 2Bxt. Weed Sci., Dep. BoL, Univ. Calif., Davis, CA 95616. 31.etters following this symbol are a WSSA-approvcd computer code from Our English word "mallow" and the genus name Composite List of Weeds, Revised 1989. Available from WSSA, 309 W. Clark SL, Champaign. Il.. 61820. Malva have a common root in the Greek malache or

693 Weed Technology. 1990. Volume 4:693-695 MITICH: CHEESBWEED. malakos, meaning "soft" (9). Etymologists do not know it diadesma [a connecting band (16)]. Egyptians called whether this refers to ,the plant's downy leaves, to the it chocorten, the Magi caprae lien [possibly spleen of a "soothing, gelatinous properties of the roots" used she-goat (9), or more likely related to capreida, a di­ _medicinally (4), to the emollient which can be made uretic plant (16)), others muris cauda [mouse tail (9)]. from the seeds or leaves, or to the relaxing powers of The common names cheeseweed or cheeses come tea made from the plant (17). from the ring of carpels left after the petals fall; this Around 1000 A.D., the name of this plant was writ­ looks like a little cheese wheel (14), Other 'cheesy' ten as malwe, malua, mealwan, and mealuwe (13). Now names include Dutch cheese, doll cheeses, fairy most European languages have recognizably similar cheeses, cheese flower, and pick-cheese (1). The plant common names for mallow (13). The French call it also has been called pellas (1), dwarf mallow, running Cflowers. Ma/ache also has given us ''malachite" 1BOTANY (copper ore}-a stone "the same shade of green as mallow leaves" (4). Most malvas _ are annual or biennial, reproducing Carolus Linnaeus published the malva species names from seeds. The plants frequent cultivated ground, new parviflora, sylvestris, and rotundifolia in Species Plan­ lawns, farmyards, and waste places (12). tarum in 1753. Linnaeus named parviflora from the Depending on the species, cheeseweed varies from Latin parvus (little) and Flora, goddess of flowers (9). prostrate to more-or-less erect (14). It has procumbent, He may have named sylvestris from the Latin for "of hairy, leafy stems (12). The plant makes a loose circle the woods." 45 to 60 cm (18 to 24 inches) in diameter (14). Linnaeus originally created the specific name rotun­ Malvas have round leaves the "size of a dollar" (14) difolia from the Latin rotundus (round) and folium and roughly the shape of geranium leaves. These leaves (leat) (9). James Edward Smith (1759-1828) mysteri­ are alternate, simple, and palmately veined, with long, ously renamed the species as M. pusilla in 1795. Carl thin petioles (12), giving the plant the appearance of Friedrich Wilhelm Wallroth (1792-1857) decided that being loosely put together. The leaves have 5 to 9 ribs pusilla actually comprised two distinct species, and and shallow lobes (6). distinguished M. neglecta as a separate species in 1824 Mallow flowers are variously described as whitish, (1). Somewhere in the vague history of malva nomen­ pale blue, pale lavender (i.e., mauve), reddish purple, or clature, pusilla lost favor, and rotundifolia was restored. pale pink veined or spotted with deeper pink (6). The Though the Weed Science Society of America3 consid­ fruit is a ring of 1-seeded circular carpels (12) fonning ers rotundifolia a synonym for neglectq, European green 'wheels.' specialists recognize both species. Neglecta comes from the Latin neglectus, meaning DISTRIBUTION AND RELATED SPECIES neglected or not chosen-from nee (not) and lego (to choose or gather) (9). As Zimdahl (17) suggests, M. sylvestris, M: neglecta, M. parviflora, and M. "Neglecta is a rather good name for a weed because rotundifolia are serious problems in crops only in when it is neglected, it will soon gain your atten­ Colombia, Australia, New Zealand, and Hawaii. They tion.... " However, he points out that the name makes are common in at least 20 other countnes, particularly more etymological sense as meaning a plant not in the eastern Mediterranean/Middle East and South gathered for food. Whether the Latin word implies America (8). All these species originate in Eurasia, but unjust abandonment, like its English equivalent might, I they have become widely naturalized in North America leave to linguistic scholars and to those who have eaten (12). mallow. Other members of the mallow family include cotton According to Dioscorides (3), the Romans referred to (Gossypium L. spp.), our most valuable fiber crop; the mallow as hortensis [of or for the garden (9)]. The much-loved and equally despised okra; many beautiful Greek 1philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras ( ca. varieties of ornamental hibiscus (Hibiscus L. spp.); 580-500 B.C.) called it anthema [flower or herb (9)]. marsh mallow (Althaea officinalts L.), from whose The Persian prophet Zoroaster (ca. 628-551 B.C.) called roots were once made marshmallows (4); and other

694 Volume 4, Issue 3 (July - September) 1990 WEED TECHNOLOGY weeds such as velvetleaf (Abutilon theophrasti Medik.) 7. Harrington, H. D. 1967. :&hole Native Plants of the Rocky MoUlltains. Univ. N.M. Press, Albuquerque. · and sida (Sida L. spp.). 8. Holm, L. G., J. V. Pancho, J.P. Herberger, and D. L. Plucknett. 1979. A Geographical Atlas of World Weeds. John Wiley&: Sons, New York. 9. Jaeger, B. C. 1944. A Source-book of Biological Names and Terms (2nd Bd.). Charles C. Thomas, Springfield, n.. LITERATURE CITED 10. Ieinpbury,J. M.1964:.PoisonousPlantsofthe United States and Canada. Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, NJ. 1. Britton, N. L., and A. Brown. 1898. An Dlustrated Flora of the Northern 11. LeStrange. R. 1977. A History of Herbal Plants. Angus&: Robertson, United States, Canada and the British Possessions. Charles Scribner's London. Sons, New York. 12. Muenscher, W. C. 1935. Weeds. MacmillanPubL Co. Inc., New York. 2. DeBray, L. 1978. The Wild Garden. Mayflower Books, Inc., New York. 13. Simpson,J.A., andB.S.C. Weiner.1989. TheOxfordBnglishDictionary, 3. Dioscorides. 1933. The Greek Herbal of Dioscorides. R. T. Gunther, ed. 2nd ed. Clarendon Press, Oxford. Hafner Publishing Co., Inc., New York. 14. Spencer, B. R. 19S7. Just Weeds. Charles Scribner's Sons, New Yolk. 4. Durant, M. 1976. Who Named the Daisy? Who Named the Rose? Dodd, 1S. Tyler, V. B.1982. TheNewHonestHerbal.GeorgeF.StickleyCo.,Phila­ Mead&: Co., New York. delphia. S. Puller, T. C., and B. McClintock. 1986. Poisonous Plants of Califomia. 16. Woods, R. S. 1944. The Naturalist's Lexicon. Abbey Garden Press, Univ. Calif. Press, Berkeley. Pasadena, CA. 6. Georgia,A.B.1942.AManualofWeeds. TheMacmillanCo.,NewYork. 17. Zimdahl, R. L. 1989. Weeds and Words. Iowa State Univ. Press, Ames.

Volume 4, Issue 3 (July - September) 1990 69S