LARGE-FLOWERED
MALLOW-WORT
Family MALVACEAE
Malope trifida
Annual
A showy annual, native to Spain, and a member
of the Mallow family.
The plant is a colourful addition to the flower
garden.
Growing two to three feet tall, the plant produces
toothed, three-lobed leaves and bug trumpet-shaped
flowers, three inches across, of rose-purple,
borne singly in the leaf axils.
The habit of the plant is erect, bushy and well
balanced.
There are a number of attractive forms, particularly
var. alba, with white flowers;
var. grandiflora, with very large rose-red flowers,
with veins of a darker tone;
var. purpurea, with deep purplish-red flowers;
and var. rosea, with rose-pink flowers. Malope malacoides,
a native of South Europe, is of smaller stature,
bearing rose and purple flowers on stems one to
two feet tall.
Useful plants for massed effect or for adding
brightness to dull parts of the garden.
The seeds should be sown in April where the plants
are to flower, the seedlings thinned to one or
one and a half feet apart.
The position should be in full sun and the soil
well cultivated and perfectly drained.
Propagation is from seed.
The flowering season is from midsummer until frost.
See also : Malope
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