Contents:
Common Names | Parts Usually Used | Plant(s) & Culture | Where Found | Medicinal Properties
Legends, Myths and Stories | Uses g | Bibliography
- Althaea rosea L.
- Alcea officinalis L.
- Mallow family
- Althea rose
- Malva flowers
- Rose mallow
Scientific Names
Common Names
Parts Usually Used
Flowers
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Description of Plant(s) and Culture
Hollyhock is a tall, usually biennial plant with palmately lobed leaves, a hairy stem, and large, showy flowers of various colors in elongated spikes. The stem bears both leaves and flowers along its length. Blooms from July to September.
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Where Found
Native to India and southern Europe but widely cultivated as a garden plant for its flowers.
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Medicinal Properties
Demulcent, diuretic, emollient
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Legends, Myths and Stories
The fresh flowers were considered a culinary delicacy in old China. The dried flowers were much used as a tea by women in England and New England settlements. Every household had its stand of hollyhock plants, however, it is neglected in most modern gardens.
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Uses
Tea made from the flowers helps soothe inflammation in the mouth and throat. A fomentation or vapor bath of the tea may be helpful for earache. A poultice applied to wasp or bee stings, or to draw out thorns, and splinters. Hollyhock flowers are used as an ingredient in various cosmetics.
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Bibliography
American Folk Medicine
The Complete Medicinal Herbal
The Herbalist Almanac
The Herb Book
Herbal Gardening, compiled by The Robison York State Herb Garden, Cornell Plantations, Matthaei Botanical Gardens of the University of Michigan, University of California Botanical Garden, Berkeley., Pantheon Books, Knopf Publishing Group, New York, 1994, first edition
Old Ways Rediscovered
Webster’s New World Dictionary
