Musk mallow (Malva moschata)

Description: Introduced to North America as an ornamental.

Habit: Erect; perennial; 1-3 ft tall; roughly hairy forb.

Leaves: Alternate, roundish in outline; upper leaves divided into 5-7 parts to below the middle.

Stems: Grows between 8-40 in tall; erect; hairy; and often branched near the base.

Flowers: Dark pink to white, 5-parted, 1 1/2-2 3/4 in wide, petals triangular, 3 very small bracts below, inflorescence solitary on long stalks from the leaf axils or usually crowded in a terminal cluster.

Fruit and seeds: Doughnut shaped, hairy, fruit contains brown, kidney-shaped seeds; 1/2 in long, concave sides, rounded edges.

Habitat: Native to Europe. Found along roadsides, grassy places, pastures, hedgebanks etc, especially on rich soils, avoiding acid soils.

Reproduction: By seed.

Similar species: Common Mallow (Malva neglecta); Ground Ivy (Glechoma hederacea).

Monitoring and rapid response: Hand-pulling; mowing before seeds ripen.

Credits: The information provided in this factsheet was gathered from North Carolina State University, the USDA PLANTS Database and the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point.

Individual species images that appear with a number in a black box are courtesy of the Bugwood.org network (http://www.invasive.org).Individual photo author credits may not be included due to the small display size of the images and subsequent difficulty of reading the provided text. All other images appear courtesy of Google (http://images.google.com).

---