Botanical name: Malva moschata
Folk names: Bread and cheese, fairy cheeses.

Type: Perennial

Wildlife: Pollen for short-tongued bumblebees and many species of hoverfly. Honeybees can also be seen covered in its pollen. Caterpillar food plant of the  Mallow moth (Laventia clarvaria).

Flowers: July to August

Decorative merit: Upright and bushy, slightly hairy stems often marked with purple spots. Feathery leaves: heart-shaped lower leaves, pinnately lobed upper ones. Usually pink, or white, large (up to 5cm across) saucer-shaped flowers with five deeply notched petals, in great profusion with a prominent bunch of stemens borne over a long period.  sually pale pink, or white. Edible flowers and leaves for salads and rich in vitamins.  Delicate musky perfume in warm weather and when leaves are handled. Seeds turn black when ripe. Size and spread: 30-75cm high.

Where: Sun or part-shade. Middle of borders, mini meadows and gravel gardens. Happy in well-drained soil.  Try in a container: this plant is pretty happy anywhere in a garden!

Folklore: In the Victorian Language of Flowers it is said to symbolise being  consumed by love, persuasion, and weakness. Alice E. Gillington’s The Rosy Musk-Mallow (Romany Love-Song): “The rosy musk-mallow blooms where the south wind blows, O my gypsy rose! In the deep dark lanes where thou and I must meet.” Malva means soft; or emollient. The ancient Greeks used it to decorate friends’ graves.  The musky scent of the flowers and leaves is enhanced when they are brought indoors. Once an ingredient in soothing syrups and ointments, and valued as an aphrodisiac.

Donate seeds to Exeter Seed Bank