MALVACEAE - MALLOW FAMILY
Scientific Description:
Herbs or shrubs, usually with stellate hairs. Leaves alternate, palmately nerved, frequently palmately lobed or divided, stipulate. Epicalyx usually present. Sepals usually 5, ± united below. Petals 5, free, contorted in aestivation, fused at the base with the staminal tube. Stamens united into a column around the styles, the column divided into filaments at the apex, each filament bearing a 1-celled anther. Pollen grains spiny. Fruit usually a schizocarp splitting into numerous mericarps (leaving a variously elaborated carpophore), rarely a capsule.
Reference:
Davis PH (1967).Malvaceae, In: Davis PH (ed.), Flora of Turkey and the East Aegean Islands, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 2: 401.
Public Description:
The “mallow family” consists of herbs, shrubs, trees and lianas, and spreads all over the world except for poles. A number of well-known species are used in agriculture, including “cotton (various Gossypium L. species)”, “cacao (Theobroma cacao L.)”, “linden (Tilia L. species)”, and “okra (Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench)”. Some species are used as ornamental plants in gardens but some species are pests in agriculture. In Anatolia, some mallow species are gathered and cooked like spinach.
References:
Anonymous (2016). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malvaceae, Accessed date: 27.02.2016.
Anonymous (2017). https://www.britannica.com/plant/Malvaceae, Accessed date: 31.12.2017.
