View source for Althaea officinalis

{{Treatment/ID
|accepted_name=Althaea officinalis
|accepted_authority=Linnaeus
|publications={{Treatment/Publication
|title=Sp. Pl.
|place=2: 686. 1753
|year=1753
}}
|common_names=Marshmallow;guimauve officinale
|special_status={{Treatment/ID/Special_status
|code=F
|label=Illustrated
}}{{Treatment/ID/Special_status
|code=I
|label=Introduced
}}
|basionyms=
|synonyms={{Treatment/ID/Synonym
|name=Althaea sublobata
|authority=Stokes
|rank=species
}} {{Treatment/ID/Synonym
|name=A. taurinensis
|authority=de Candolle
|rank=species
}} {{Treatment/ID/Synonym
|name=Malva officinalis
|authority=(Linnaeus) Schimper & Spenner
|rank=species
}}
|hierarchy=Malvaceae;Malvaceae subfam. Malvoideae;Althaea;Althaea officinalis
|hierarchy_nav=<div class="higher-taxa"><div class="higher-taxon"><small>family</small>[[Malvaceae]]</div><div class="higher-taxon"><small>subfamily</small>[[Malvaceae subfam. Malvoideae]]</div><div class="higher-taxon"><small>genus</small>[[Althaea]]</div><div class="higher-taxon"><small>species</small>[[Althaea officinalis]]</div></div>
|volume=Volume 6
|mention_page=page 188, 231, 232
|treatment_page=page 233
}}<!--

--><span class="statement" id="st-undefined" data-properties=""><b>Herbs </b>perennial, to 1.5 m. <b>Stems</b> erect, clustered, branched distally or unbranched, softly stellate-tomentose. <b>Leaves</b>: stipules somewhat persistent, usually caducous, linear-lanceolate, subulate, sometimes 2-fid or dentate, (2–)5–8 mm, densely stellate-hairy; petioles 1–6 cm, reduced on distal leaves, usually shorter than blade; blades of proximal leaves ovate or obscurely 3-lobed less than 1/2 to midrib, distal leaves deltate-ovate to ovate, (2–)4–10 × 2–7 cm, base truncate to cuneate, lobes acuminate or broadly acute to obtuse, middle lobe larger than others, deeply plicate, margins irregularly dentate to crenate-serrate, surfaces softly stellate-tomentose, ribs very prominent abaxially. <b>Inflorescences</b> solitary flowers or 2–4-flowered fascicles in leaf axil, sometimes aggregated apically into terminal false racemes. <b>Pedicels</b>/peduncles 0.5–4 cm; involucellar bractlets 8–12, erect, linear-lanceolate, 1/2 length of calyx, 6 mm, lobes 2–6 × 1–2 mm, stellate-tomentose. <b>Flowers</b>: calyx 8–10 mm, lobes narrowly ovate-acuminate, 6 mm, 2 times as long as tube, stellate-velutinous; petals usually pale pink, rarely white, cuneate-obovate, 7.5–15 × 6–13 mm, 2–3 times as long as calyx, apex obtuse or notched; staminal column 3–5 mm, glabrous or sparsely papillose-hairy; anthers in upper 1/2, dark purple; style 15–20-branched. <b>Fruits</b> partially concealed by incurved, somewhat accrescent calyx lobes, 7–9 mm diam.; mericarps 15–20, brown, unwinged, orbiculate-reniform, 1.5–2.5 × 2–3 mm, rugose, lateral surface smooth, membranous, dorsal surface stellate-tomentose with medial furrow. <b>Seeds</b> brown, reniform-round, 1.5–2 × 1–1.5 mm, glabrous. <b>2n</b> = 42.</span><!--

-->{{Treatment/Body
|phenology=Flowering summer–fall.
|habitat=Wet, disturbed areas, along streams, brackish sand, coastal marshes
|elevation=0–200 m
|distribution=N.B.;Ont.;Que.;Ark.;Conn.;Del.;Ky.;Md.;Mass.;Mich.;Nebr.;N.J.;N.Y.;N.Dak.;Ohio;Pa.;Va.;Wis.;Eurasia;n Africa.
|discussion=<p><i>Althaea officinalis</i> is occasionally cultivated for ornament, food (especially for the mucilaginous root sap once used with sugar to make marshmallows), and as a medicine; it occasionally escapes. There are few recent North American collections.</p>
|tables=
|references=
}}<!--

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-->{{#Taxon:
name=Althaea officinalis
|authority=Linnaeus
|rank=species
|parent rank=genus
|synonyms=Althaea sublobata;A. taurinensis;Malva officinalis
|basionyms=
|family=Malvaceae
|phenology=Flowering summer–fall.
|habitat=Wet, disturbed areas, along streams, brackish sand, coastal marshes
|elevation=0–200 m
|distribution=N.B.;Ont.;Que.;Ark.;Conn.;Del.;Ky.;Md.;Mass.;Mich.;Nebr.;N.J.;N.Y.;N.Dak.;Ohio;Pa.;Va.;Wis.;Eurasia;n Africa.
|introduced=true
|reference=None
|publication title=Sp. Pl.
|publication year=1753
|special status=Illustrated;Introduced
|source xml=https://jpend@bitbucket.org/aafc-mbb/fna-data-curation.git/src/f50eec43f223ca0e34566be0b046453a0960e173/coarse_grained_fna_xml/V6/V6_416.xml
|subfamily=Malvaceae subfam. Malvoideae
|genus=Althaea
|species=Althaea officinalis
}}<!--

-->[[Category:Treatment]][[Category:Althaea]]