Lavatera arborea L.
tree mallow
Stout biennial up to 2-(3) m high, usually with a single main stem. Stems moderately to densely clothed in stellate hairs when young, becoming ± glabrous and woody at base when older. Lvs densely clothed in stellate hairs, velvety to touch, suborbicular, cordate at base, shortly 5-7-palmately lobed and crenulate, up to 20 cm diam., rarely variegated; petioles 3-30 cm long; stipules narrow- to ovate-triangular, 4-8 mm long. Fls in axillary and terminal clusters of 2-7-(10) or rarely in irregular racemes; fruiting pedicels 5-20-(30) mm long; epicalyx segments broadly ovate to suborbicular, united for lower ?-1/2, > calyx, distinctly enlarged and spreading at fruiting; calyx shallowly campanulate; calyx teeth ± = tube, triangular, acute to acuminate, densely clothed in stellate hairs, usually ± connivent at fruiting; petals lilac or deep pink with purple or red veins and base, 15-20 mm long. Mericarps 6-8-(9) per fr., usually glabrous, sometimes densely clothed in fine hairs, finely transversely ribbed on back; edges sharply angled.
N.: local throughout but not recorded from Taranaki; S.: local throughout; St.: Ruapuke Id; Ch.
W. and S. Europe, N. Africa 1870
Waste places and cultivated land, especially well-established at coastal sites.
FL Aug-May.
This robust sp. is most easily distinguished by the fused, enlarged, spreading fruiting calyx (Fig. 81).
