Malva sylvestris

Biennial or perennial, stems erect or decumbent, to 1.5 m long. Leaves c. reniform to orbicular, cordate at base, c. 3–8 cm long and wide, usually shallowly 5-lobed, margins crenate or irregularly toothed, surfaces glabrous, or usually with scattered simple (rarely stellate) hairs mainly along nerves. Epicalyx-lobes elliptic, 3–6 mm long, attached in lower third of calyx; calyx shortly exceeding epicalyx, obtusely lobed to c. midway, enlarged slightly and the lobes incurved in fruit; petals 12–30 mm long, pink to purple with darker veins. Fruit c. 8 mm diam., mericarps c. 10–15, strongly reticulate, adjacent margins ± smooth, glabrous to sparsely hispid. Flowers Nov.–Feb.