Mallow: A Comprehensive Introduction and FAQ Analysis
Mallow is a perennial upright herbaceous plant and a beautiful flowering plant, mainly distributed in temperate and tropical regions, with beautiful blooms. Perhaps many people have not heard of it, but everyone should know the hibiscus flower; hibiscus belongs to the mallow family, which shows the beauty of the mallow. Mallow is mainly used for ornamental purposes, but besides that it can also be used medicinally and as food.
Morphological Characteristics
Also known as jingkui, qiankui, and qipanhua, the plant height is 50-100cm, with numerous branches, and the plant is densely covered with coarse hairs; the leaves are round-heart-shaped or kidney-shaped, with rounded serrations along the edges, and both sides of the leaf blade are hairless or the veins have a few short stiff hairs; the petiole is about 6cm long, hairless or with long stiff hairs in the groove.
The flowering period is relatively long, from May to October, with flowers clustered, and the flower color is purple or white, with 5 petals; the pedicel is relatively short, hairless or with a few coarse hairs; after flowering it bears fruit, the fruit is kidney-shaped, relatively flat, and the surface is covered with soft hairs; the seeds are black-brown and kidney-shaped.
Growth Habits
It prefers a cool environment with plenty of sunlight, is cold-resistant, drought-tolerant, and highly adaptable, with no strict requirements for soil, but it grows best in fertile, loose, well-drained sandy soil. It has strong growth vigor and can reproduce by self-seeding; moisten the planting soil, scatter the seeds evenly, then cover with soil, and note to keep the soil moist, but not excessively so, to avoid waterlogging. Generally sown in April, it can be planted out in May, and can bloom in June.
Main Value
Landscape greening: Because mallow has a relatively large plant type, and the plant forms are not uniform, and the flowering is also not uniform, it is not suitable for potted plants or flower beds, and is mostly used for courtyard or garden cultivation, for ornamental purposes or greening.
Medicinal value: It can be used to make flower tea; after brewing, the color is mostly blue, looking very beautiful, and adding two drops of lemon juice can turn it pink, making it relatively popular. The stems, leaves, and flowers can all be used as medicine, with the effects of clearing heat and draining dampness, regulating qi and relieving constipation, used for difficult bowel movements and umbilical abdominal pain.
The above is an introduction to mallow. The mallow flower language: satire. It is said that in ancient Roman times, a satirical poet named Martial was active in the Roman Empire, and he once said that the tea extracted from mallow has the effect of restoring fatigue, so people believed that mallow was the source of power for satirical poets.