Field and Woodland Plants

by William S. Furneaux

Three species of Mallow (order Malvaceæ) are more or less common by waysides and on waste ground. They are all interesting plants, with large, regular, attractive flowers; and stipuled leaves which are palmately lobed and veined. The flowers have five sepals and five petals, the latter being very curiously twisted in the bud. The stamens, five in number, are freely branched, and are also raised on a tubular structure as the flower matures, so that they appear like a large number of stamens with united filaments. The ovary consists of many carpels, with as many styles; and the fruit splits into a number of one-seeded parts arranged radially.

The Common Mallow (Malva sylvestris) is a strong, erect, downy plant, from two to three feet high, with branched stem. The flowers are axillary, large and showy, of a pale purple or a lilac colour, marked with crimson veins; and the fruit is smooth.

The Deptford Pink.

The Dwarf Mallow (M. rotundifolia) is about as common, and grows in similar situations, but it is a smaller plant, with prostrate stems from six inches to a foot long. The leaves are cordate or almost round, divided into five or seven shallow, crenate lobes. The flowers are smaller than those of M. sylvestris, being generally less than an inch in diameter, of a pale lilac colour; and the fruit is hairy. Both species flower from June to September.

It is interesting to note that these two flowers, which frequently grow together on the same waste ground, and consequently have to compete with one another in the general struggle for existence, are pollinated in totally different ways, the one (M. sylvestris) by the aid of insects, and the other (M. rotundifolia) probably almost always self-pollinated. In both these flowers the stamens are mounted on the top of a tube as above described; and in both the stamens are crowded round the numerous styles while the flower is yet young, so that insects which visit the flower for nectar can hardly fail to dust themselves with pollen. In M. sylvestris, however, the stamens are mature before the stigmas, and the former droop, thus bringing the anthers below the level of the stigmas, so that the flower could hardly fertilise itself even if anthers and stigmas matured simultaneously. But later the styles bend downwards, thus bringing the stigmas to the position of the withered stamens in order to catch the pollen brought by insects from other flowers. Further, the pollen cells of this species are covered with minute hooks by means of which they attach themselves to the hairy legs of bees.

The Red Campion.

The anthers and stigmas of M. rotundifolia are both matured together; and the styles lengthen, and bend downwards, causing the stigmas to twine themselves among the numerous stamens in such a manner that the flower can hardly fail to fertilise itself. Further, if we watch the flowers of these two species on a sunny day, we find that insects visit the flowers of M. sylvestris freely, while they are seldom attracted to the smaller and less conspicuous blooms of M. rotundifolia.

The third species referred to is the Musk Mallow (M. moschata), so called from the musky odour given off from all parts of the plant, especially when rubbed or crushed. It is often seen in hedgerows, but is not so common as the other two just described, and seems to be rather partial to gravelly soils. The plant is hairy, of a pale green colour, with an erect stem from two to three feet high. The flowers are large and beautiful, of a rich rose colour, and crowded towards the top of the stem. The fruit is hairy. A white variety is occasionally seen, and this is not uncommonly grown as a garden flower. The time of flowering is July and August.