https://www.flickr.com/photos/craftastrophies/4899036767/ I see it everywhere in adelaide, wherever there's an abandoned garden. I'm pulling up lots in my own garden, and I'd like to know what it is, if it's safe for chooks, and if it might be useful!
It is a mallow and a bit of a nuisance but the chooks eat the leaves and leave the stems that spread along and under ground
Yes, and an edible and medicinal mallow too. You can cook with the leaves, or chop young ones fine in salad or sandwiches. Flowers and green seed capsules are edible too - google 'mallow cheese edible'. For medicine google 'malva +herbal medicine' (it's similar to its relative marshmallow). Can't imagine it being a bit of a nuisance ;-) If you're in Australia, check out Tim Low's edible weed book.
You can smoke this as well with rose petals,coltsfoot and salvia divinorum for flavour calming smoke. Best wishes fernando
What's a chicken? We have a bit of that mallow plant around here, it has very strong and seemingly deep roots so I tend to cut it off if it is in the way, hoping the roots will open up the ground a bit for me as they rot away. I like them too because they can build up a lot of bio-mass quickly. Like all plants it is a resource waiting for uses Here chook, chook, chook, chook, chook
Not sure how it will go for drying for tea, as it's a fairly bland taste. You can make a refreshing infusion by chopping a good handful of the fresh leaves and covering with cold water and leaving to steep at least a few hours. Flowers can be done like this also. The cold water extracts the mucilage and when you drink this it helps the body stay hydrated. Perfect in a hot climate. The root would have the most mucilage but that would kill the plant.
Chook is Australian for chicken. A Mate is your best friend, not someone you have sex with. And you also call your male mate a Bastard as a term of endearment. Anyone who doesn't know and respect these language conventions is called a Drongo. I'm yet to work out why the Septic Tanks call men Chuck - cos that's vomit over here.... Language is fun!
I managed to pick up a copy of 'Let Stalk Strine' for $1 in an op shop. Anyone read it? It's fantastic. My manpanion's nickname appears to not be 'bastard' but 'f*#ker'. As in 'hey! You f*#ker!' Cheeky as a magpie, he is. (I just realised that that's really rude. The other meaning had honestly not occured to me ) Well, I've just woken up with a chesty cough, so I might give a concoction a whirl tonight. I might also try propogating it (apparently you can move the root or make cuttings) as it's all big shrubs of it right in the walkways. But, of course it is. Perhaps I will use the seeds to tint fairy floss (is there nothing this plant cannot do?!). It apparently also has magical uses, being carried to attract love, or made into a tincture to protect against the evil eye. It's interesting about the roots. My plants all have really shallow roots, but I guess they are in rocky soil. Come to think of it, at our last place they did an excellent job of digging up the soil so that you could literally see piles of worm castings around their bases. I can't believe I had such a wonderful plant in my garden, and thought it was a pesky weed! Just goes to show, I guess...
I've found it to be fairly shallow rooting too, in clay soils anyway. I've not had much luck with transplanting. A root or cutting might be worth a go though. You're very lucky having so much, it's hard to get it to go wild here.
probably easiest grown from seed, possibly a annual anyway. it grows where it wants to grow (usually in footpaths in Urban wastelands) and dosn't take kindly to replanting IMHE the original source of marshmallow (any old recipes out there?) soothing, demulcent contains a lot of mucilage related to hollyhock which is useful for seeing the fairies. https://www.google.com/imgres?imgur...&sa=G&biw=1082&bih=608&tbs=isch:1&um=1&itbs=1 https://ayardinfortpierce.blogspot.com/2008/09/medicinal-mondays-3-marsh-mallow-plant_08.html Most 'weeds" are full of potent chemicals that protect them. We use these as they are medicinal. Most, probably all, weeds are medicinal
Going back to my hort studies i seem to remember the mallows is the largest plant family and includes hibiscus and is determined by dissecting the flower but I forget what to look for in the dissected flower.
Since I don't know anything about Mallow, i will stick with the other topic. Yes I have read let stalk strine. I think i was 16 or so at the time. I think we've lost it in one of our many moves unfortunately I remember my father telling me that when he was in the philippines, the taxi drivers could only understand where he was from if he said Strya. .
Ethnobotanical and scientific aspects of Malva sylvestris L.: a millennial herbal medicine. [Review] Gasparetto JC. Martins CA. Hayashi SS. Otuky MF. Pontarolo R. Journal of Pharmacy & Pharmacology. 64(2):172-89, 2012 Feb.Abstract Objectives Malva sylvestris L., known as common mallow, is native to Europe, North Africa and Asia. In the Mediterranean region, this species has a long history of use as food, and due to its therapeutic relevance, some parts of this plant have been employed in traditional and ethnoveterinary medicines. The leaves in particular have been reported to have potent anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-complementary, anticancer and skin tissue integrity activity. Additionally, an anti-ulcerogenic effect was recently proven, demonstrating that the aqueous extract was more effective than cimetidine, a potent medicine used to treat gastric ulcers. Due to its wide use and medicinal importance, many studies have been conducted; however, the information in the literature is very extensive and disseminated, making it difficult to use. Key findings A complete review involving the ethnobotanical and scientific aspects of M. sylvestris has been made. The research has provided evidence that M. sylvestris has potential use as a medicinal plant and has highlighted a need for more studies involving clinical and toxicological aspects of its use. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.2042-7158.2011.01383.x/abstract if we had a sensible academic publishing system you could access the full report. Full text could be obtained from a uni or State library medline access The flowers of M. sylvestris are almost odourless and have a mucilaginous taste when chewed. They are 3–5 cm wide and have an epicalyx; the rest of the stalk does not exceed 20 mm in length.[25] The flower consists of an epicalyx with three oblong or elliptical-lanceolate parts that are shorter than those of the calyx and are situated immediately below it; the calyx has five pubescent triangular lobes, and gamosepalous at the bases. A corolla three to four times longer than the calyx with five wedge-shaped, notched petals is fused to the stamen tube at their base. Numerous stamens, the filaments of which fuse into a stamina tube covered by small star-shaped trichomes and occasional simple trichomes are visible under magnification, and numerous wrinkled carpels, glabrous or sometimes pubescent, enclosed in the stamen tube are arranged into a circle around a central style that ends with numerous filiform stigmas. In cultivated varieties, the epicalyx is three to seven partite, the calyx is five to eight partite, and the corolla is five to 10 partite.[26,27] The leaves are simple, membranous, pubescent and velvey on both sides. They are green even when dry, have long petioles and are orbicular to reniform, palminervous and lobed, with three, five, seven or nine shallow lobes. They have rounded or acute apexes, with a truncated subcordiform, dentate-crenate and measure 7–15 cm in diameter.
I rather like to add a chopped top from common mallows and add it (washed & whole) to soups and stews ... I fetch it out just before serving (in the same way you would fetch out bay leaves). The mallow thickens the soup/stew nicely (not too much) and adds just a hint of sweetness. It's one of my favourite "weeds".