Malva moschata L.
musk mallow
Erect perennial herb. Stems moderately hairy with only simple hairs. Lvs sparsely to moderately hairy with simple hairs and rarely a few stellate hairs below, ± glabrous above; lower lvs reniform, shallowly 3-5-palmately lobed and crenate, 5-8 cm diam.; upper stem lvs deeply divided ± to base with usually 5, 2-pinnatifid lobes; ultimate segments ± linear; petiole 1-20 cm long; stipules linear to lanceolate, 5-8 mm long. Fls solitary in lower axils and racemose at apex; fruiting pedicels (8)-10-50 mm long; epicalyx segments linear or narrow-ovate, < calyx; calyx teeth ovate, acute to acuminate, moderately hairy with simple and stellate hairs, enlarged at fruiting; petals usually pink, sometimes white, 2-4× as long as calyx, (15)-20-30 mm long. Mericarps c. 15-20 per fr., densely hairy, smooth on back; edges rounded.
N.: scattered localities in S. Auckland, Taranaki, and Wellington Provinces; S.: Takaka, Taieri Plain, and collected once from Southland.
Europe, N. Africa 1904
Cultivated land, waste places.
FL Jan-Mar.
The rounded mericarps of M. moschata are densely covered in long hairs unlike those of any other N.Z. Malva (Fig. 84).
