Musk Mallow Malva Moschata

Musk mallow Malva moschata

Description

Introduced to North America as an ornamental.

Habit

Erect; perennial; 1-3 ft tall; roughly hairy forb.

Leaves

Alternate, roundish in outline; upper leaves divided into 5-7 parts to below the middle.

Stems

Grows between 8-40 in tall; erect; hairy; and often branched near the base.

Flowers

Dark pink to white, 5-parted, 1 1/2-2 3/4 in wide, petals triangular, 3 very small bracts below, inflorescence solitary on long stalks from the leaf axils or usually crowded in a terminal cluster.

Fruits and Seeds

Source: MISIN. 2021. Midwest Invasive Species Information Network. Michigan State University - Applied Spatial Ecology and Technical Services Laboratory. Available online at https://www.misin.msu.edu/facts/detail.php?id=108. Doughnut shaped, hairy, fruit contains brown, kidney-shaped seeds; 1/2 in long, concave sides, rounded edges.

Habitat

Native to Europe. Found along roadsides, grassy places, pastures, hedgebanks etc, especially on rich soils, avoiding acid soils.

Reproduction

By seed.

Similar

Common Mallow (Malva neglecta); Ground Ivy (Glechoma hederacea).

Monitoring and Rapid Response

Hand-pulling; mowing before seeds ripen.

Credits

The information provided in this factsheet was gathered from North Carolina State University, the

USDA PLANTS Database and the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point. Individual species images that appear with a number in a black box are courtesy of the Bugwood.org network

(http://www.invasive.org).Individual photo author credits may not be included due to the small display size of the images and subsequent difficulty of reading the provided text. All other images appear courtesy of Google (http://images.google.com).