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Lavatera
arborea L.,
Tree
Mallow, Velvet Tree Mallow,
Baummalve,
Baumförmige Strauchpappel, Strauchmalve
jättemalva
Lavatère,
Lavatère arborescente, Mauve royale
Mauve,
eune mauve
Grande
Mauve
Malvone
maggiore, Malva arborea, Malvone, Malva reale
malva
arbórea, malva gigante
malva,
malvera, malva-arbre, malva fogassa, vauma, vaumera
Slézovec
Drevesasti
grmièasti oslez
drvolika
stola
Hobbejza
tas-sigra
lavatero
roka, malvo roka
Distribution: garden cultivar. For
the distribution of the species seen under Lavatera
arborea.
Habitat: gardens.
Identification: As for
Lavatera arborea, except that the
leaves (especially during the flowering season), epicalyx and calyx are
splashed with cream markings, or sometimes completely of that colour.
Source
A plant obtained from a nursery, and seed from the University of
Liverpool (Ness) Botanic Gardens seedlist.
Technical Description
Erect annual, biennial or perennial arboriform shrub to 50-200-300
cm, single-stemmed, later branched at top, initiation of development of
side shoots following that of flowers, stellate-tomentose on young
parts other than corolla. In subsequent years new shoots produced from the
upper parts, never from the base. Stems initially green, becoming suffused
with red, then olive and finally grey, with distinct leaf and stipule
scars; foliage alternate, stipulate and long-petiolate; stipules green,
subulate, marcescent, caducuous, ciliate, 2-4 mm long; petioles green,
tomentose, approximately equal in length to the lamina; laminae simple,
cordate, suborbicular, to 15 cm in diameter, often much smaller, green or
splashed with cream (most extensively on leaves produced in late spring
and early summer), 5-nerved, shortly 5-lobed, upper leaves more distinctly
lobed, dentate, ciliate, tomentose on upper and lower surfaces,;
inflorescence indeterminate, a leafy raceme; flowers hermaphrodite,
protandrous, involucellate, borne upright, singly, in pairs, or in
fasciculate clusters of 3 to 5 in the axils of upper leaves and of leaves
of side shoots; pedicel green, deflexed-tomentose, short, to 1 cm;
epicalyx spreading, bracteoles 3, symmetrically disposed, broadly ovate,
tomentose, ciliate, about 8 mm long at anthesis, fused for about half
their length, green, cream or splashed with cream, accrescent and
spreading in fruit; calyx reduplicate-valvate in aestivation, sepals 5,
shorter than the bracteoles (c. 4 mm), accrescent and connivent in fruit,
connate for about half their length, densely pubsescent, ciliate, cream in
aestivation, becoming green in fruit; corolla convolute in aestivation, 3
cm across at anthesis, petals 5, spirally arranged, hypogynous, apex
sub-emarginate, 15-20 mm long, rose with 5 darker veins, base and claw
dark purple; staminal column about 10 mm long, antheriferous in upper
half, hispid on lower half, near white extensively streaked with purple;
filaments rose-purple, anthers rose(?), reniform,
unilocular; pollen white; ovary 8-loculate,
locules uniovulate, ovules ascending,
placentation axile; style branches filiform, white, as
many as the locules, stigmas introrsely
decurrent; fruit schizocarpous, verticillate, about 1 cm
across; axis about 1.5 mm diameter, conical, somewhat protruding beyond
the mericarps, apex acute; mericarps 8, dorsal face tomentose, with
irregular broad-V shaped ridges, lateral faces glabrous, irregularly
ridged, sometimes fenestrate, angle sharp, somewhat sinuate; the single
seed conformed to the cell, which it completely fills;
the testa crustaceous, smooth; embryo incurved
into an incomplete ring around the scanty soft or mucilaginous albumen,
cotyledons broad and foliaceous, somewhat infolded, radicle
centripetal-inferior.
Description
|
Lavatera arborea is an erect tree-like perennial, growing to
10 ft in height. The vegetative parts have a covering of stellate
hairs.
The young stems are green. As they age they developed a reddish
tinge, before becoming olive and finally gray. At intermediate ages
they bear distinctive leaf and petiole scars. The base of the trunk is
bare, side shoots being produced in the upper parts only, leading to
the tree-like habit of the plant. |
 |
|
The leaves are borne alternately (one per node). They are up to 15
cm across, but often much smaller, especially on flowering shoots.
They are variously splashed with cream, most prominently on flowering
shoots, and are at some times solely green. They are shallowly
palmately lobed, with acute apices, heart-shaped bases, and toothed,
hair-fringed margins.
The stalks are green and tomentose, and approximately as long as the
blades. |
|
|
The stipules are small (up to 4mm long) and roughly triangular in
shape |
|
|
The flowers are borne upright, single, in pairs, or most commonly in
fasciculate clusters (i.e. lacking a common stalk for the cluster) of
3 to 5 in the leaf axils. They consist of an epicalyx of 3 fused
bracteoles, a calyx of 5 sepals, a corolla of 5 petals, an androecium
and a gynoecium. |
|
|
The flower stalk (pedicel) is short, about 1 cm long, green in
colour, and covered with a dense covering of white hairs pointing back
towards the stem. |
 |
|
The epicalyx is composed of 3 bracteoles which are broadly ovate,
and fused for about half their length. They are a mixture of green and
cream, predominately, sometimes exclusively the latter. They are
tomentose and ciliate. |
 |
|
The sepals are much smaller (c. 4 mm) than the bracteoles, and are
almost completely obscured by them in bud and flower. They are
triangular in outline, with an acute apex, ciliate margin and densely
pubescent surfaces. In fruit they lie flat over the upper surface of
the fruit, partially obscuring the fruit. |
 |
|
 The
petals are between 15 and 20 mm long. On the upper side they are
rose-magenta in colour, with 5 darker veins, and a dark purple base
and claw. The marking is much less distinct on the under side.
|
 |
|
The staminal column is a little over 1 cm in length. It is white in
colour, with purple streaks. The lower half bears white haris. The
upper half is antheriferous, the many (c. 40?) filaments being
rose-purple in colour, and the pollen white. |
 |
|
The style is enclosed by the staminal column and is terminated by
6-8 style branches. These are white, slightly tinged with rose (the
colour is exagerrated in the photograph due to reflected colour from
the petals), and threadlike. The stigmas are introrsely decurrent. |
 |
|
The fruit is about 1 cm across, surrounded by the spreading
bracteoles and partially covered by the sepals. It is composed of 6-8
seed bearing segments disposed in a ring about a conical, pointed,
protruding axis. |
|
|
The mericarps are shaped like a segment of an orange. They are about
3mm across in their longest dimension. There is a sharp angle between
the lateral and dorsal faces. The lateral faces are flat, and ridged
(the ridges being about 1/3rd of the width of the gaps between them),
and often bear, towards the axis, a fenestra giving a view of the
seed. The dorsal face is weakly ridged and densely covered with short
hairs. |
 |
Cultivation: Seed may be sown
indoors, lightly covered, in mid-spring, for planting out later.
Germination is easy and rapid. Sowing in the flowering position may also
work, but I don't have experience of this. In my experience plants do not
reliably survive their first winter, and it may be preferable to
overwinter young plants indoors/under glass. Bean5
says that 'Variegata' must be propagated by cuttings, but I have found
that, at least when grown away from the wild type, this variety comes true
from seed.
Cytology: Lavatera arborea
is reported as having 40 or 44 chromosomes. It seems to me that it is
likely that it is an ancient hexaploid with 42 chromosomes (counting
chromosomes is difficult, and errors are possible).
Variation: As this cultivar is
propagated by seed it is likely that much of the variation of the species
is replicated in this cultivar.
Taxonomy:
Lavatera arborea L., Species Plantarum 690 (1753)
Malva dendromorpha M.F.Ray, Novon, 8(3): 292 (1998),
Lavatera arborea, in common with other species from Lavatera
section Anthema, is closely related to Malva section Malva,
including Malva sylvestris and the weedy mallows. Martin Forbes
Ray4 transfers several of these species,
including Lavatera arborea, to Malva. The epithet arborea
is preempted by Malva arborea St.-Hil., a synonym of Hibiscus
pernambucensis (Talipariti "pernambucense"), and
Lavatera arborea was renamed as Malva dendromorpha M. F.
Ray. This would seem to be the correct name for the species.
Synonymy: for synonymy of the
species see Lavatera arborea.
References
- Baker, Synopsis of Genera and Species of Malveæ (1890)
- Fernandes, in Flora Europaea Vol. 2
- Clive Stace - New Flora of the British Isles (1991)
- M.F. Ray, New Combinations in Malva, in
Novon 8:288-295 (1998)
- Bean, Trees and Shrubs Hardy in The British Isles
Bibliography
- Baker, Synopsis of Genera and Species of Malveæ (1890)
- Bean, Trees and Shrubs Hardy in The British Isles
- Flora Europaea Vol. 2
- Clive Stace - New Flora of the British Isles (1991)
- M.F. Ray, New Combinations in Malva, in Novon 8:288-295
(1998)
Photographs
photographs in the
Lavatera Gallery.
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Acknowledgements and Copyright
photographs © 2003, 2004 Stewart Robert Hinsley
text and HTML © 2004 Stewart Robert Hinsley