''Althaea officinalis'', the marsh mallow or marshmallow, is a species of flowering plant indigenous to Europe, Western Asia and North Africa, which is used in

herbalism Herbal medicine (also called herbalism, phytomedicine or phytotherapy) is the study of pharmacognosy and the use of medicinal plants, which are a basis of traditional medicine. Scientific evidence for the effectiveness of many herbal treatments ...

and as an

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or ''garden plants'' are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars th ...

Description

This

herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition of ...

perennial In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...

grows to tall and puts out only a few lateral branches. The whole plant is softly stellate-hairy, especially the leaves, which are broadly triangular to oval, often with 3-5 shallow lobes, irregularly toothed, with cordate to cuneate bases. Leaf size varies considerably, up to long, and wide. The leaves are arranged alternately along the stem, with no stipules, on petioles up to . The

inflorescences In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a main axis ( pe ...

occur in the leaf axils and at the top of the stem and consist of panicles of 1-many flowers. The flowers are actinomorphic with 5 lilac/pink petals up to 2 cm long and 5 green sepals which are much shorter than the petals, and fused at the base. Below the petals is a cup-shaped epicalyx with 6-9 narrow, triangular lobes, half the length of the sepals. The purple

stamen The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filament ...

s are united into a tube, the anthers kidney-shaped and one-celled. There is one style which protrudes above the stamen tube. The flowers are in bloom during August and September, and are followed, as in other species of this order, by the flat, round fruit which are popularly called "cheeses". The whole fruit is a

schizocarp A schizocarp is a dry fruit that, when mature, splits up into mericarps. There are different definitions: * Any Dry fruits, dry fruit composed of multiple carpels that separate. : Under this definition the mericarps can contain one or more ...

, about 1 cm in diameter, which splits into about 20 kidney-shaped mericarps (seeds) about 2 mm long. The common mallow is frequently called "marsh mallow" in colloquial terms, but the true marsh mallow is distinguished from all the other mallows growing in

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

by the numerous divisions of the outer calyx (six to nine cleft), by the hoary down which thickly clothes the stems and foliage, and by the numerous panicles of blush-coloured flowers, paler than the common mallow. The roots are perennial, thick, long and tapering, very tough and pliant, whitish yellow outside, white and fibrous within.

Phytochemicals

Chemical constituents include altheahexacosanyl lactone (''n''-hexacos-2-enyl-1,5-olide), 2β-hydroxycalamene (altheacalamene) and altheacoumarin glucoside (5,6-dihydroxycoumarin-5-dodecanoate-6β-D-glucopyranoside), along with the known phytoconstituents

lauric acid Lauric acid, systematically dodecanoic acid, is a saturated fatty acid with a 12-carbon atom chain, thus having many properties of Medium-chain triglyceride, medium-chain fatty acids. It is a bright white, powdery solid with a faint odor of Piment ...

, β-sitosterol and

lanosterol Lanosterol is a tetracyclic triterpenoid and is the compound from which all animal and fungal steroids are derived. By contrast, plant steroids are produced via cycloartenol. In the eyes of vertebrates, lanosterol is a natural constituent, havin ...

Uses

Ornamental

Marshmallows are used in gardening as ornamental plants.

Herbal medicine

The leaves, flowers and the root of ''A. officinalis'' (marshmallow) have been used in traditional herbal medicine. This use is reflected in the name of the genus, which comes from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

('), meaning "to heal".. The Latin

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

officinalis ''Officinalis'', ''officinale'', or occasionally ''officinarum'' is a Medieval Latin epithet denoting organisms—mainly plants—with uses in medicine, herbalism, manufacturing, and cookery. It commonly occurs as a specific epithet, the second t ...

'' indicates plants with some culinary or medicinal value. Marshmallow is traditionally used as relief for irritation of

mucous membrane A mucous membrane or mucosa is a membrane that lines various cavities in the body of an organism and covers the surface of internal organs. It consists of one or more layers of epithelial cells overlying a layer of loose connective tissue. It ...

s, including use as a gargle for mouth and throat

ulcers An ulcer is a discontinuity or break in a bodily membrane that impedes normal function of the affected organ. According to Robbins's pathology, "ulcer is the breach of the continuity of skin, epithelium or mucous membrane caused by sloughing ...

and gastric ulcers.

Culinary

Most of the mallows have been used as food, and are mentioned by early classic writers with this connection. Mallow was an edible vegetable among the Romans; a dish of marsh mallow was one of their delicacies.

Prospero Alpini Prospero Alpini (also known as Prosper Alpinus, Prospero Alpinio and Latinized as Prosperus Alpinus) (23 November 15536 February 1617) was a Venetian physician and botanist. He travelled around Egypt and served as the fourth prefect in charge of ...

stated in 1592 that a plant of the mallow kind was eaten by the

Egyptians Egyptians (, ; , ; ) are an ethnic group native to the Nile, Nile Valley in Egypt. Egyptian identity is closely tied to Geography of Egypt, geography. The population is concentrated in the Nile Valley, a small strip of cultivable land stretchi ...

. Many of the poorer inhabitants of

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

subsisted for weeks on herbs, of which marshmallow is one of the most common. When boiled first and fried with

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' , from Latin ), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus '' Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion which was classifie ...

s and

butter Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of Churning (butter), churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 81% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread (food ...

, the roots are said to form a palatable dish.Grieve. ''A Modern Herbal''. Penguin 1984 In times of scarcity consequent upon the failure of the crops, this plant, which grows in Syria in great abundance, is collected heavily as a foodstuff. The young leaves can be cooked. The flower buds can be pickled. The roots can be peeled, sliced, boiled and sweetened to make candy. Water used to boil any part of the plant can be used as an

egg white Egg white is the clear liquid (also called the albumen or the glair/glaire) contained within an egg. In chickens, it is formed from the layers of secretions of the anterior section of the hen's oviduct during the passage of the egg. It forms a ...

substitute.

Botanical gallery

File:Althaea officinalis sl32.jpg, Typically upright and somewhat broad (Austria) File:Echter eibisch Roscheiderhof H2.jpg, Very tall narrow example (?Germany) File:Althaea officinalis . Marsh Mallow - Flickr - gailhampshire.jpg, Typical appearance in flower, closer, showing pale clustered flowers with purple centres (England) Althaea officinalis (common marsh-mallow), Guilford, CT (42861186434).jpg, Inflorescence, showing pale clustered flowers with purple centres and velvetty, shallow-lobed toothy leaves with recessed veins and (if zoomed) soft-haired stem File:Althaea officinalis JRVdH 02.jpg, Flower cluster showing purple anthers and stigmas (Canada) File:Althaea.officinalis.11.jpg, Filaments join into a column, showing purple anthers and (when zoomed) purple pollen spheres (?Germany) File:Marsh Mallow Althaea officinalis (6171430693).jpg, Flowers, showing purple anthers when unopened (England) File:Althaea officinalis (common marsh-mallow), Guilford, CT (42861186434).jpg, Unopened flower buds from side, showing epicalyces at bud (calyx) bases and velvetty plant stem (England) File:Althea officinalis corimbo.jpg, Unopened flower buds from above, showing tips of epicalyces that are at bud (calyx) base File:Althaea officinalis 2019-12-13 5769.jpg, Fruits, showing hairs on smooth fruit surface File:Althaea_officinalis_2019-12-13_5770.jpg, Fruits, showing a cluster File:Althaea officinalis habitus.jpeg, Velvetty leaves (Germany) File:Althaea_officinalis_sl12.jpg, Leaf, velvetty (here slightly)

References

External links

*
Connecticut Botanical Society: ''Althaea officinalis''

{{taxonbar, from=Q158496 Malveae Flora of Europe Flora of temperate Asia Medicinal plants of Africa Demulcents Plants used in traditional Chinese medicine Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Saponaceous plants