Malva sylvestris.*
Plot B - bottom - allotment garden of Nowhere in particular.
(4th September 2016)
Mauve and Malvaceae in the allotment garden of Nowhere in particular
This is one of my favourite new (and unexpected) plant arrivals of 2016. If I have identified the plant correctly, it is, Malva sylvestris (Common Mallow). It has settled in one of the raised beds in Plot B - in the bottom section. We used this section for a variety of purposes this year - growing green manures, surplus plants (e.g. courgettes) and establishing new strawberry and asparagus beds.
The mallow appeared from beneath a mulch made of a green manure sown and grown in mid to late spring. Mallow can be considered as an invasive weed and it has taken its place in the garden with a weedy though welcome vigour. Richard Mabey says, in Flora Britannica, that Mallow will 'often stay [ing] in bloom right through the autumn'.
Back in the 16th century Mallow went by another name, 'Omnimorbia' - meaning, a cure all.** Perhaps this plant's potential potency is some consolation for what has been the rather grim year of the 'slugopalypse'. There is much on-line to affirm the many beneficial qualities of the plant - simply type 'Mallow plant' into a search engine and an abundance of foragers and herbalists will be there to guide and advise you on the various attributes of this beautiful and once highly respected plant.
I may try to encourage the colonisation, by mallow, elsewhere in the allotment garden, by saving some seed and sowing/planting it in the new perennial garden next spring to provide a source of leaves and seeds for salads.
*By Köhler, F. E. (Franz Eugen) - Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen in naturgetreuen Abbildungen mit kurz erläuterndem Texte : Atlas zur Pharmacopoea germanica, Volume 1 of 3 (Source: Wikipedia)
** Stuart, Malcolm (Ed) - The Encyclopaedia of Herbs and Herbalism, Caxton, 1989.
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