Common mallow

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Common mallow habit

Common mallow

Common mallow

Common mallow

Common mallow leaf

Common mallow

Common mallow

Morphology

Stem

Prostrate to ascending, branched near base, sparsely hairy with stellate and simple hairs.

Leaves

Cauline, alternate, simple; stipules triangular, .12 to .24 inch; petiole .4 to 7 inches; blade round to reniform, .4 to 1.8 inches long, .6 to 2.8 inches wide, base cordate to subcordate, margins unlobed or shallowly palmately 5-7(-9)-lobed, crenate to dentate, flat or crisped.

Inflorescence

Axillary, fascicles, 1-3-flowered; involucel bracts 3, linear or subulate, .12 to .2 inch. Pedicels .2 to .6 inch.

Flower

Calyx shallowly campanulate, .16 to .28 inch, lobes ovate; corolla rotate to shallowly campanulate, .05 to .8 inch wide, petals 5, white, pink, or pale lavender, obcordate, .02 to .05 inch, ca. 2 times as long as calyx, apex usually notched; stamens 5--many, monadelphous, forming tube around pistil; pistil 1.

Fruit

Schizocarps, flattened, discoid, .2 to .28 inch wide, separating into 2--28 discoid mericarps; mericarps beakless, smooth to faintly reticulate; seeds brown, nearly round, .06 to .07 inch.

Ecology

Habitat

Fields, pastures, lawns, farm yards, vacant lots, waste places

Distribution

Occurs statewide

Additional Notes