HOLLYHOCK
File Size: 80 KB
 
Alcea rosea  L.
Pottawatomie County, Kansas
Biennial or short-lived perennial
Height: 3-10 feet
Family: Malvaceae - Mallow Family
Flowering Period:   May, June, July, August, September
Stems: Erect, straight,mostly unbranched, coarse-hairy.
Leaves: Alternate, nearly round, 2 to 12 inches wide, wrinkled; margins shallowly 5-7-lobed or wavy, principal veins palmate; base heart-shaped; stalks long, to 12 inches on leaves of basal rosette, progressively reduced above.
Inflorescences: Raceme, spike-like, terminal.
Flowers: Showy, around 4 inches broad; stalk short; bracts below calyx 6-9, triangular, united basally; calyx 5-lobed, 3/5 to 4/5 inch long, lobes broadly triangular; petals 5, 1.2 to 2 inches long, overlapping, usually with shallow indentations at top, pink, rose, red, purple or white; stamen column with anthers at tip.
Fruits: Rings of 15-40 1-seeded segments, outer surface pubescent.
Habitat: Waste places, roadsides, railroads, fields, farmsteads.
Distribution: Scattered throughout
Origin: Probably a native of Asia. Introduced and now naturalized in the United States.
Uses: Native Americans used the leaves to apply an infusion of flowers to skin inflammations.
Comments: Hollyhock was cultivated in flower gardens and sometimes escaped to waste places. It can be found in a wide variety of colors but escaped plants are often pink or rose.

Hollyhock flowers, bracts, and calyx
88 KB
Pottawatomie County, Kansas
Hollyhock inflorescence
92 KB
Pottawatomie County, Kansas
Hollyhock leaf
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Pottawatomie County, Kansas
Hollyhock
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Marshall County, Kansas
Hollyhock
72 KB
Marshall County, Kansas