Mallows, Malva species

Musk mallow, Malva moschata

The leaves can be eaten raw or cooked. A mild pleasant flavour.

The leaves are mucilaginous and fairly bland, we use them in bulk in summer salads. They make a very good perennial substitute for lettuce in a salad, producing fresh leaves from spring until the middle of summer, or until the autumn from spring germinating plants.

The flowers can be eaten raw. A very decorative addition to the salad bowl, they have a very mild flavour.

Seed is edible raw. Best used before it is fully mature, the seed has a pleasant nutty taste but it is rather small and fiddly to harvest.

The leaves and flowers are the main part used medicinally, their demulcent properties making them valuable as a poultice for bruise, inflammations, insect bites etc, or taken internally in the treatment of respiratory system diseases or inflammation of the digestive or urinary systems.

They have similar properties, but are considered to be inferior, to the common mallow (M. sylvestris) and the marsh mallow (Althaea officinalis) and are seldom used internally.

The plant is an excellent laxative for young children.

Cream, yellow and green dyes can be obtained from the plant and the seed heads.

A fibre obtained from the stems is used for cordage, textiles and paper making.

Common Mallow, Malva sylvestris

The leaves are eaten raw or cooked. Mucilaginous with a mild pleasant flavour, they are nice in soups where they act as a thickener.

The young leaves also make a very acceptable substitute for lettuce in a salad.

Immature seed can be eaten raw. Used as a nibble, the seeds have a nice nutty flavour but are too fiddly for most people to want to gather in quantity.

The flowers are edible raw. Added to salads or used as a garnish. A pleasant mild flavour, with a similar texture to the leaves, they make a pleasant and pretty addition to the salad bowl.

The leaves are a tea substitute.

Other uses as musk mallow.