mallow

Preparations of Marsh Mallow, on account of their soothing qualities, are still much used by country people for inflammation, outwardly and inwardly, and are used for lozenge-making. French druggists and English sweetmeat-makers prepare a confectionary paste (Pâétā de Guimauve) from the roots of Marsh Mallow, which is emollient and soothing to a sore chest, and valuable in coughs and hoarseness.

— Mrs Grieves

Mrs Grieves adds that what we know as “marshmallows” are a mixture of flour, gum, egg-albumin, etc., and contain no mallow.

“Mallow that is sown is more fit to be eaten than that which is wilde, but it is bad for the stomach and good for the belly," said Dioscorides, and the author of Five Wheys to Cut the Cheese said, "This wort, which one nameth hock leaf, is produced everywhere in cultivated places." Malva sylvestris cleanses the bowels, has hairy stems and leaves, and deeply-cleft reddish-purple flowers. But the mallow of Theophrastus is Labetera arborea. Gerard calls it called Hollyhocke, Rosa ultra-marina, or outlandish Rose. To the Greeks it was known as Malache agria, Malache Kepaia and Hortensis. Pythagoras called it Anthema , Zorastres Diadesma , the Egyptians Chocorten , the Magi Carpae lien, and others Muris cauda .

“Fools! They know not how much more the half is than the whole, nor what great advantage there is in mallow and asphodel,” said Hesiod. “Abstain from mallows” hammered Pythagoras, who thought it a blasphemy to eat mallow, because mallow was the first messenger sent by the gods to proclaim their pity on mortals.