''Malva nicaeensis'' is a species of flowering plant in the
mallow family known by the common names bull mallow and French mallow.
It grows up to tall, producing pinkish flowers. It grows in the Middle East, where it has variously served as food.
Description
''Malva nicaeensis'' is an annual or biennial herb producing a hairy, upright stem up to long. The leaves are up to wide and have several slight lobes along the edges.
Flowers appear in the leaf axils, each with pinkish to light purple petals around long. The disc-shaped fruit has several segments.
Distribution and habitat
In the
Levant
The Levant ( ) is the subregion that borders the Eastern Mediterranean, Eastern Mediterranean sea to the west, and forms the core of West Asia and the political term, Middle East, ''Middle East''. In its narrowest sense, which is in use toda ...
, mallows grow profusely after the first winter rains.
Uses
The leaves and stems are edible, and are widely collected for food, as they make an excellent garnish when chopped and fried in olive-oil with onions and spices. In Israel, the plant is renowned for having fed the besieged Jewish population in the 1948
Battle for Jerusalem
The Battle for Jerusalem took place during the 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine, 1947–1948 civil war phase of the 1947–1949 Palestine war. It saw Jewish and Arab militias in Mandatory Palestine, and later the militaries of Isra ...
, its use similar to
spinach
Spinach (''Spinacia oleracea'') is a leafy green flowering plant native to Central Asia, Central and Western Asia. It is of the order Caryophyllales, family Amaranthaceae, subfamily Chenopodioideae. Its leaves are a common vegetable consumed eit ...
. A particularly famous preparation are the
Khubeza patties.
Apicius
''Apicius'', also known as ''De re culinaria'' or ''De re coquinaria'' (''On the Subject of Cooking''), is a collection of Food and dining in the Roman Empire, Roman cookery recipes, which may have been compiled in the fifth century CE, or ea ...
, a collection of Roman cookery recipes, mentions
garum
Garum is a fermentation (food), fermented fish sauce that was used as a condiment in the cuisines of Phoenicia, Ancient Greek cuisine, ancient Greece, Ancient Roman cuisine, Rome, Carthage and later Byzantine cuisine, Byzantium. Liquamen is a si ...
being used as a
fish stock to flavor cooked mallows.
Apicius
''Apicius'', also known as ''De re culinaria'' or ''De re coquinaria'' (''On the Subject of Cooking''), is a collection of Food and dining in the Roman Empire, Roman cookery recipes, which may have been compiled in the fifth century CE, or ea ...
, ''De Re Coquinaria'' (Book III, sectio
VIII
Botanical gallery
File:Malva nicaeensis in Antalya by David Merrick 21.jpg, Plant form, general
File:Malva nicaeensis in Antalya by David Merrick 24.jpg, Plant form closer
File:Malva nicaeensis in Antalya by David Merrick 01.jpg, Epicalyx 3 broad segments, lacking stellate hairs
File:Malva nicaeensis in Antalya by David Merrick 18.jpg, Flower, pinky with bold veins, may be paler
File:Malva nicaeensis in Antalya by David Merrick 11.jpg, Flower showing calyx with 5 broad parts, epicalyx with 3 broad parts, sparsely hairy with simple hairs
File:Malva nicaeensis in Antalya by David Merrick 03.jpg, Flower, petals without hairs, or with little, at centre
File:Malva nicaeensis in Antalya by David Merrick 22.jpg, Central stigma
File:Malva nicaeensis in Antalya by David Merrick 30.jpg, Petal, no hairs or scarcely so
File:Malva nicaeensis in Antalya by David Merrick 12.jpg, Fruit, lightly hairy (may be hairless), showing wrinkles
File:Malva nicaeensis in Antalya by David Merrick 06.jpg, Fruit, very hairy form
File:Malva nicaeensis in Antalya by David Merrick 14.jpg, Flowers showing features together
File:Malva nicaeensis in Antalya by David Merrick 28.jpg, Bracts
File:Malva nicaeensis in Antalya by David Merrick 07.jpg, Plant area
File:Malva nicaeensis in Antalya by David Merrick 08.jpg, Leafage area
File:Malva nicaeensis in Antalya by David Merrick 15.jpg, Leaf
File:Malva nicaeensis in Antalya by David Merrick 13.jpg, Leaf upperside
File:Malva nicaeensis in Antalya by David Merrick 09.jpg, Leaf underside
File:Malva nicaeensis in Antalya by David Merrick 16.jpg, Hairs generally simple with conspicuous bulbous bases (as M. sylvestris)
File:Malva nicaeensis in Antalya by David Merrick 27.jpg, Plant base
File:Malva nicaeensis in Antalya by David Merrick 31.jpg, Plant base
References
External links
*
Jepson Manual Treatment*
*
*
nicee
Flora of North Africa
Flora of Western Asia
Taxa named by Carlo Allioni
Flora of Malta
{{Malveae-stub