For many gardeners, this family is known for the “mallow” cultivated as ornamental plants, which is used to name not only mallow (a variety of the family) or mallow, but also hats and stockroses (from related genera of the family).
One of the main industrial crops belongs to the family of malvaceae - cotton, which is a fiber used for the manufacture of cotton fabrics. A number of decorative and technical plants belongs to the family.
general description
In moderately warm areas, mallow trees are annual and perennial grasses, and in the subtropics and tropics, where a significant number of varieties of this family are common, there are shrubs and small trees among them.
Leaves with stipules in these plants are alternate, palmate or palmate, less often whole. Only the alpine variety that is common in the Chilean Andes - the mynatifolia malvastrum - has cirrus deeply dissected and densely pubescent leaves. This is a very original appearance.
Flowers of plants of the family malvaceae are actinomorphic, sometimes zygomorphic, usually five-membered and bisexual, often located in the axils of the leaves, one at a time or in bunches, but also often form high-flowered complex inflorescences. The latter can be racemose, panicle-shaped or spike-shaped, located in the sinuses of the bracts.
Features
For almost all plants of the family, but to a lesser extent for cotton and hibiscus, the presence in all parts of plants of containers, which consist of either single cells or merged cell groups, is characteristic. Perhaps they play a role in the water balance - they bind water. This is probably why many plants of this family can grow even in desert conditions.
In addition, many representatives of the malvaceous family have characteristic pubescence and the presence of stellate hairs.
The most common members of the family
- The cotton plant that matters most in people's lives.
- Common Mallow or Mallow is a widespread plant. It is weedy and is found in vegetable gardens, steam fields.
- Kenaf is an annual plant native to India.
- Stockrose is a common ornamental plant.
- Marshmallow is an edible plant whose root is of medicinal value.
In total, in this family, according to modern classification, there are approximately 4000 species.
Tree cotton
This perennial plant is a shrub that grows in height up to 6 meters. Homeland - Pakistan and India. The flowers are red, bare seeds are painted black. This species forms a yellowish fiber of very high quality. Varieties of this variety of malvaceae are characterized by good resistance to damage by insects and to drought.
The most common are varieties developed by Indian breeders: Y-1, AKH-4 and G-7.
Marshmallow
This plant is a perennial herb. The marshmallow has a main thick stalk, from which thin branches extend upward. An adult plant can reach two meters in height.
Leaves are soft, regular. The lower ones have a rounded shape and are temporary, dying off even in the initial stage of flowering of the plant. The middle leaves are also rounded, having a heart-shaped base, with three or five lobes. Upper - whole. All leaves have irregular denticles, and their length reaches 5-15 centimeters. To the touch velvety-felt, as they have a short pubescence. The flowers collected in bunches are on common short peduncles.
The whitish roots of the medicinal moth are short, thick, fleshy, many-headed, with a powerful rod process, which is lignified in the upper part. In length reaches 50 centimeters.
Marshmallows are common in the forest-steppe and steppe zones of the European part, in the southern territory of Western Siberia, in some regions of Central Asia, in Kazakhstan and the Caucasus. You can eat it: eat leaves boiled, stewed and raw. Used in food and boiled plant root. Young fresh leaves can also be used to make vitamin soups and salads.
In gardens and flower beds
Many gardeners practice growing stem roses from seeds. When to plant this plant and how to grow it?
Shtokroza, like mallow, is a tall ornamental plant with flowers of various shades that can perfectly decorate any garden or house area. This flower comes from Egypt and Greece. Bred by breeders of more than 70 species and hybrids of a perennial flower. Varieties differ in height, size and shape of flowers and leaves, as well as colors. The most popular are white, pink, raspberry, yellow, red, brick and dark purple mallow. The flowering period is the end of June or the beginning of frosts.
Mallows look very beautiful (photos of flowers clearly demonstrate this) in and around the adjacent areas. Growing this plant from seeds and using seedlings has different periods in different Russian regions. Most often, the seeds are sown directly in the open ground in spring, namely at the beginning of May. At the same time, the plant does not bloom in the same year, buds are formed only in the next season. Seeds can be sown in the ground before the start of autumn, in the last days of August, most importantly - until the first cold weather. Flowering in this case may occur earlier, but only if the seedlings do not die from prolonged frosts and strong winds. Those who do not want to wait long for flowering can use the seedling method of cultivation. For this, seeds are sown at home in February or March in seedlings. In this case, the plant begins to bloom in the same season - from the end of July to the beginning of August.
Finally
The family of mallow, as we see, consists of a wide variety of plant species and forms, but the most familiar and common are mallow, which can often be seen at fences, at the walls of houses and in the form of hedges. It should be noted that it is in these places that they are most protected from adverse growing conditions, and they look great.