July: Common Mallow
Under the Blue Sky
Malva stkvestrus
Order: Malvales
Family: Malvaceae
Genus: Malva
habitat: sunny open space
distribution: throughout British Isles, common in the south
Its slightly purplish pink flowers are attractive in the midsummer.
Walking on cliff tops, I often find colonies of common mallow. They can get full sun but it can be quite windy at the seashores. They are quite strong against harsh environment (wind, coldness etc.). And, they are even edible!
Leaves, flowers, seeds and roots are all edible. Leaves are a bit hairy but you cook or fry them like as spinach. You can toss the young soft leaves onto salad.(You can use them between spring and early summer.) Petals can be used for garnishing salads to add nice colour, or for making tea. Another name of mallow is cheese. It came from the appearance of its fruit, which looks like a cheese wheel. (See the poem by Cicely Mary Barker below) They can be eaten when they are still green. (I never tried them. So, I'll do later in this summer.) Root can be cooked like burdock root, which are widely cultivated as a popular vegetable in Japan. I've never tried mallow root.
My husband created a small patch in our garden, and sowed wild flower seeds this spring. Now various summer flowers like poppy, borage etc. Among those some tiny mallow plants are flowering as well. So small and few that we'd rather prefer to enjoy seeing the flowers than forage.
The Song of The Mallow Fairy
I am Mallow; here sit I
Watching all the passers-by.
Though my leaves are torn and tattered,
Dust-besprinkled, mud-bespattered,
See, my seeds are fairy cheeses,
Freshest, finest, fairy cheeses!
These are what an elf will much
For his supper or his lunch.
Fairy housewives, going down
To their busy market-town,
Hear ,e wheedling: "Lady, please,
Pretty lady, buy a cheese!"
And I never find it matters
That I'm nicknamed Rags-and-Tatters,
For they buy my fairy cheeses,
Freshest, finest, fairy cheese!
Cicely Mary Barker's A Flower Fairy Alphabet(Cicely Mary Barker, The Complete Book of the Flower-Fairies, Warne, 2002)
Malva stkvestrus
Order: Malvales
Family: Malvaceae
Genus: Malva
habitat: sunny open space
distribution: throughout British Isles, common in the south
Leaves, flowers, seeds and roots are all edible. Leaves are a bit hairy but you cook or fry them like as spinach. You can toss the young soft leaves onto salad.(You can use them between spring and early summer.) Petals can be used for garnishing salads to add nice colour, or for making tea. Another name of mallow is cheese. It came from the appearance of its fruit, which looks like a cheese wheel. (See the poem by Cicely Mary Barker below) They can be eaten when they are still green. (I never tried them. So, I'll do later in this summer.) Root can be cooked like burdock root, which are widely cultivated as a popular vegetable in Japan. I've never tried mallow root.
My husband created a small patch in our garden, and sowed wild flower seeds this spring. Now various summer flowers like poppy, borage etc. Among those some tiny mallow plants are flowering as well. So small and few that we'd rather prefer to enjoy seeing the flowers than forage.
Order: Malvales
Family: Malvaceae
Genus: Malva
habitat: sunny open space
distribution: throughout British Isles, common in the south
Its slightly purplish pink flowers are attractive in the midsummer.
Walking on cliff tops, I often find colonies of common mallow. They can get full sun but it can be quite windy at the seashores. They are quite strong against harsh environment (wind, coldness etc.). And, they are even edible!
Walking on cliff tops, I often find colonies of common mallow. They can get full sun but it can be quite windy at the seashores. They are quite strong against harsh environment (wind, coldness etc.). And, they are even edible!
Leaves, flowers, seeds and roots are all edible. Leaves are a bit hairy but you cook or fry them like as spinach. You can toss the young soft leaves onto salad.(You can use them between spring and early summer.) Petals can be used for garnishing salads to add nice colour, or for making tea. Another name of mallow is cheese. It came from the appearance of its fruit, which looks like a cheese wheel. (See the poem by Cicely Mary Barker below) They can be eaten when they are still green. (I never tried them. So, I'll do later in this summer.) Root can be cooked like burdock root, which are widely cultivated as a popular vegetable in Japan. I've never tried mallow root.
My husband created a small patch in our garden, and sowed wild flower seeds this spring. Now various summer flowers like poppy, borage etc. Among those some tiny mallow plants are flowering as well. So small and few that we'd rather prefer to enjoy seeing the flowers than forage.
The Song of The Mallow Fairy
I am Mallow; here sit I
Watching all the passers-by.
Though my leaves are torn and tattered,
Dust-besprinkled, mud-bespattered,
See, my seeds are fairy cheeses,
Freshest, finest, fairy cheeses!
These are what an elf will much
For his supper or his lunch.
Fairy housewives, going down
To their busy market-town,
Hear ,e wheedling: "Lady, please,
Pretty lady, buy a cheese!"
And I never find it matters
That I'm nicknamed Rags-and-Tatters,
For they buy my fairy cheeses,
Freshest, finest, fairy cheese!
Watching all the passers-by.
Though my leaves are torn and tattered,
Dust-besprinkled, mud-bespattered,
See, my seeds are fairy cheeses,
Freshest, finest, fairy cheeses!
These are what an elf will much
For his supper or his lunch.
Fairy housewives, going down
To their busy market-town,
Hear ,e wheedling: "Lady, please,
Pretty lady, buy a cheese!"
And I never find it matters
That I'm nicknamed Rags-and-Tatters,
For they buy my fairy cheeses,
Freshest, finest, fairy cheese!
Cicely Mary Barker's A Flower Fairy Alphabet(Cicely Mary Barker, The Complete Book of the Flower-Fairies, Warne, 2002)
