Pale pink five-petalled saucers veined in darker pink above deeply cut, feathery upper leaves; the plant is faintly musky and grows on dry verges and in churchyards
Musk mallow, Malva moschata.
Nature · Wildflowers & flowers
Musk mallow
Native · flowers Jul–Aug · verges, pastures, hedgerows and churchyards
Malva moschata — Malvaceae
An elegant, hairy perennial of dry verges, field edges, pastures and churchyards, with large, pale-pink, satin-textured flowers in July and August. It has finely divided, feathery upper leaves and a faint musky scent, which gives it its name. It is the more refined, deeply cut cousin of the common mallow, and a favourite of cottage gardens.
How to spot them
- ▸Saucer-shaped pale pink flowers, 3–5 cm across, with five notched petals veined in darker pink; occasionally white
- ▸Basal leaves rounded and shallowly lobed, but upper stem leaves deeply cut into narrow, feathery segments
- ▸Hairy stems, up to about 1 m, on dry, well-drained ground
- ▸Faint musky scent from the plant, particularly noticeable when it is brought indoors
- ▸Common mallow (Malva sylvestris) has larger, purple-pink flowers with dark stripes and rounded, lobed leaves throughout
How to know it
Its specific epithet means 'musky', for the scent it gives off, which is stronger indoors
Malva moschata — musk mallow.
A hairy perennial of hedgerows and pastures, popular in cottage gardens, and planted with marjoram, field scabious, cornflower and knapweed in a dry wildflower patch
Musk mallow (Wildlife Trusts).
Its upper leaves are cut into narrow, feathery segments, unlike the rounded, lobed leaves of the coarser mallow of the same family on verges
Musk mallow versus common mallow.
After the pink flowers fade, the ring of flattened seed segments forms a round disc that country children call a 'cheese'
Musk mallow — as for other mallows.
Quick-fire facts
- •Family Malvaceae; Malva is the Latin for mallow, and moschata means musk-scented
- •The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust gives a flowering season of July to August and a height up to 1 m
- •The saucer-shaped flowers have five pale pink petals with fine dark pink veins; stems and leaves are hairy
- •Grows on roadside verges, field edges, hedgerows, pastures and churchyards, favouring dry places
- •Mainly found in England and Wales, with a few in Scotland and Northern Ireland
- •The scent, a delicate musky smell, increases indoors
- •A popular cottage garden plant, good in a miniature wildflower meadow
- •Its fruit is a flattened disc of segments, called a 'cheese' in the mallows
Drill it — 6 cards
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Sources
- Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust — Musk mallow