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Lavatera arborea

Common name:	Tree Mallow	Family:	Malvaceae
Author:	L.	Botanical references:	17, 200
Synonyms:
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	Coastal regions of Europe, including Britain, from Franceto the Mediterranean and N. Africa.
Habitat:	Maritime rocks or waste ground by the sea, to 150 metres[17].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	2	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	1

Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Malva [E], Tree Mallow [P,MS], Tree Sea Mallow [H], Tree-mallow [B],
Epithets:	From a Dictionary of Botanical Epithets
	arborea = tree like ater = black
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Malvales. Mallow family
Other Range Info:	From the Ethnobotany Database
	Peru

Physical Characteristics

Biennial growing to 3m by 0.5m at a fast rate. It is hardy to zone 0 and is not frost tender. It is in flower from July to September. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Insects. We rate it 2/5 for edibility and 1/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils and requires well-drained soil. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It requires dry or moist soil. The plant can tolerate maritime exposure.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Cultivated Beds.

Edible Uses

Leaves.

Young leaves - raw or cooked. A mild flavour, but the leaves are dry and hairy and not that agreeable in quantity on their own[K]. They can be used as part of a chopped mixed salad[K].

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

Poultice.

A poultice made from the leaves is used to treat sprains[4].

Other Uses

None known

Cultivation details

An easily grown plant, succeeding in any ordinary garden soil in sun or partial shade[1, 187]. Prefers a light well-drained moderately fertile soil in full sun[200]. A soil that is too rich encourages foliar growth at the expense of flowering[200]. Tolerates maritime exposure[200].
Plants are very fast-growing and often flower in their first year from seed[200]. They flower so freely in their second year that they normally die afterwards, though they sometimes perennate[200]. When well sited, this species usually self-sows freely[200].
There are some named forms developed for their ornamental value[200].

Propagation

Seed - sow late summer in situ[200]. The seed should germinate within 4 weeks.

Cultivars

'': No entries have been made for this species as yet.

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

Web References

Details of Medicinal Uses, Habitats, etc. in M. Grieve A Modern Herbal (1931) [4]
[H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names database
[E] Ethnobotany Data (common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.
[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[C] Taxon data. from the CalFlora database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

References for the family Malvaceae.

[CHINA] Draft Data Very detailed botanical/identification info. from the Flora of China.

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[K] Ken Fern
Notes from observations, tasting etc at Plants For A Future and on field trips.

[1] F. Chittendon. RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 Oxford University Press 1951
Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaces in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [200]).

[4] Grieve. A Modern Herbal. Penguin 1984 ISBN 0-14-046-440-9
Not so modern (1930's?) but lots of information, mainly temperate plants.

[17] Clapham, Tootin and Warburg. Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press 1962
A very comprehensive flora, the standard reference book but it has no pictures.

[187] Phillips. R. & Rix. M. Perennials Volumes 1 and 2. Pan Books 1991 ISBN 0-330-30936-9
Photographs of over 3,000 species and cultivars of ornamental plants together with brief cultivation notes, details of habitat etc.

[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

Readers Comments

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Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
WEB search engine by Rich Morris - Home Page- Contact Info
Blagdon Cross, Ashwater, Beaworthy, Devon, EX21 5DF, UK.
Website: www.pfaf.org Phone: 0845 458 4719/_44(0) 1208 872963

This page (UK) http://www.comp.leeds.ac.uk/cgi-bin/pfaf/arr_html?Lavatera+arborea
This page (US) http://www.ibiblio.org/pfaf/cgi-bin/arr_html?Lavatera+arborea

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