For in the case of some plants it might seem that our definitions overlap; and some under cultivation appear to become different and depart from their essential nature, for instance, mallow when it grows tall and becomes tree-like. For this comes to pass in no long time, not more than six or seven months, so that in length and thickness the plant becomes as great as a spear, and men accordingly use it as a walking-stick, and after a longer period the result of cultivation is proportionately greater... On the other hand the myrtle, unless it is pruned, turns into a shrub, and so does the filbert... Indeed it might be suggested that we should classify in some cases simply by size, and in some cases by comparative robustness or length of life. For of under-shrubs and those of the pot-herb class some have only one stem and come as it were to have the character of a tree, such as cabbage [conjectured from the Greek] and rue: wherefore some call these 'tree-herbs': and in fact all or most of the pot-herb class, when they have been long in the ground, acquire a sort of branches, and the whole plant comes to have a tree-like [dendrolachana] shape, though it is shorter lived than a tree.

Theophrastus, Inquiry into plants, 1.3.2

Some plants we shall call of the fennel class, for instance dill and mallow; for authorities report that in Arabia mallows grow into trees in seven months, and serve as walking-sticks. There is an instance of a mallow-tree on the estuary of the town of Lixus in Maurentania, the place where the Gardens of the Hesperids are said to have been situated; it grows 200 yards from the ocean, near a shrine of Hercules which is said to be older than the one at Cadiz; the tree itself is 20 feet high, and so large round that nobody could span it with his arms. Hemp will also be placed in the same class.

Pliny, 19.22.62

Dendromalache, mallow that grows into a tree (Althoea rosea) corresponds to the dendromalache of the Geoponiques (15.5.5) and the anadendromalache of Galen (Meth med, 1.14.5), which Sainean identifies as Althaea rosea. Theophrastus knows only the mallow, identified as Lavatera arborea L. It is thus probably that Rabelais, citing from memory, confounded the name of the plant in Theophrastus with that in the Geoponiques.

Mallow is the common name for several species, mainly of the genera Malva and Abutilon, such as M. sylvestris (common European mallow). The name is also used for species of other genera including Athaea offinalis (marsh mallow) and Lavatera maritima (sea mallow). Malvaceae. (Lavatera is a genus of herbs and shrubs mostly from the Mediterranean region. Several species are cultivated, including L arborea (tree mallow) a European biennial with clusters of pale purple flowers 5 cm across.

Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their meat

Job 30.4.

The Hebrew word here translated "mallows" in the Authorized Version is "malluach" (related to the Greek words meaning salted, or of the sea). Some commentators are of the opinion that this term actually refers to true species of the genus Malva, which, being soft and mucilaginous and not unwholesome, might well have been gathered and eaten in times of privation. Carruthers suggests Malva rotundifolia, Malva sylvestris, Hibiscis syriacus (tree mallow).

The Malvaceae family is important for both food and drugs. Of more than 1000 genera and species not one is known to have any unwholesome quantities.

Alkea [Malva Alcea] Alcea, & this also is a kind of wild mallow having leaves cut in near like thos of ye holy herb. Stalks 3 or 4 having a bark like to Cannabis, a little flower like ye Rose, 5 or 6 broad white roots, almost a cubit long, which being drank with wine or water doe cure ye Dysentery & ruptures.

Dioscorides 3.164

Marsh mallow [Althea officinalis] This wort, which is called hibiscus, and by another name marsh mallow, is produced in moist places, and in fields.

5 39.1.

Of the garden Mallow called Hollyhocke. The Hollihocke is called of divers, Rosa ultra-marina, or outlandish Rose.

Gerard 2.147.