Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Mallow flowers
SELECTION CHARACTERISTICS
There are many distinct varieties grown in China; not so in the West.
Potential selection criteria:
• size and tenderness of leaves
• rapid growth of young plants
• vigorous leaf growth
• curliness of leaves
DISEASES AND PESTS
We have yet to observe a disease problem; not even hollyhock rust (
Puccinia
malvacearum
) affects Chinese mallow. What we have found is a beetle that we have yet to identify. It
is about in. (3 mm) long with an orange head, causes extensive leaf damage, and also infests holly-
hocks. Treatment: neem oil pesticide.
CULTIVATION HISTORY
The wild form of curled mallow is unknown, though the plant is presumed to
have originated in central Asia and the southern Himalayas. Once a prized vegetable in China, mallow
is now seldom grown; it was grown in the former USSR as a fodder and fiber plant and was once
grown more frequently in European home gardens as a vegetable and medicinal plant. It came into
Arche Noah's collection through Austrian member Bertram Sonderegger, who inherited the variety
from his grandmother; he remembered her giving him mallow flower buds when he was young, so he
would grow up to be big and strong.
The leaves of curled mallow at eating ripeness
