Alcea L.
Perennial herbs with tall stems. Lvs toothed or lobed. Fls solitary and axillary or in axillary clusters, shortly pedicellate or sessile; epicalyx segments 6-(9), united at least in part; calyx evenly 5-toothed; petals spreading, obtuse to emarginate. Style branches as many as loculi, filiform. Fr. of numerous, 1-seeded, indehiscent, awnless mericarps arranged in a single flat whorl round short conic apex of receptacle, separating at maturity.
Key
c. 60 spp., Mediterranean to C. Asia. Naturalised spp. 2.
The genus is sometimes combined with Althea L., but most recent treatments retain Alcea for the spp. with large subsessile fls.
