Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

HOLLYHOCK

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Alcea rosea L.

Pottawatomie County, Kansas

Biennial or short-lived perennial

Height: 3-10 feet

Family: Malvaceae - Mallow Family

Flowering Period: May, June, July, August, September

Stems:

Erect, straight,mostly unbranched, coarse-hairy.

Leaves:

Alternate, nearly round, 2 to 12 inches wide, wrinkled; margins shallowly 5-7-lobed or wavy, principal veins palmate; base heart-shaped; stalks long, to 12 inches on leaves of basal rosette, progressively reduced above.

Inflorescences:

Raceme, spike-like, terminal.

Flowers:

Showy, around 4 inches broad; stalk short; bracts below calyx 6-9, triangular, united basally; calyx 5-lobed, 3/5 to 4/5 inch long, lobes broadly triangular; petals 5, 1.2 to 2 inches long, overlapping, usually with shallow indentations at top, pink, rose, red, purple or white; stamen column with anthers at tip.

Fruits:

Rings of 15-40 1-seeded segments, outer surface pubescent.

Habitat:

Waste places, roadsides, railroads, fields, farmsteads.

Distribution:

Scattered throughout

Origin:

Probably a native of Asia. Introduced and now naturalized in the United States.

Uses:

Native Americans used the leaves to apply an infusion of flowers to skin inflammations.

Comments:

Hollyhock was cultivated in flower gardens and sometimes escaped to waste places. It can be found in a wide variety of colors but escaped plants are often pink or rose.

Hollyhock flowers, bracts, and calyx