Image: Wikimedia Commons (See link for license)
Mallow family🌺
Malvaceae Juss.
アオイ科
Under APG IV, the broadly circumscribed Malvaceae includes the former Bombacaceae, Tiliaceae, and Sterculiaceae. Approximately 250 genera and 4,200 species are known, including cotton, cacao, hibiscus, and hollyhock. Japan has numerous native and naturalized species such as Malva, Hibiscus mutabilis, and H. syriacus.
Key Characteristics
- ●Stamens numerous, fused into a tubular column (monadelphous stamens)
- ●Petals 5, often brightly colored
- ●Leaves alternate, mostly palmately veined or palmately compound
- ●Fruit diverse: capsules, schizocarps, etc.
Morphological Traits
A family may include species with different trait values — multiple values indicate the range within the family.
Leaf arrangement
Alternate
Leaf type
Simple
Venation
Pinnate / Palmate
Leaf margin
Entire
Growth form
Shrub / Tree / Herb
Evergreen/Deciduous
Deciduous
Leaf dissection
Dissected / Undivided
Stipules
Present / Absent
Flower symmetry
Actinomorphic
Petal count
Many
Petal fusion
Free
Ovary position
Superior
Stamen count
5
Plant sex
Dioecious / Hermaphrodite / Monoecious
Phylogenetic Position
Angiosperms > Eudicots > Core eudicots > Malvales > Malvaceae
Divergence Era
Late Cretaceous (ca. 80–90 million years ago)
Representative Genera
Related Evolution Events
- ・Evolution of monadelphous stamens (numerous fused stamens)
- ・Domestication of cotton (Gossypium) and its impact on the global economy
- ・Utilization of cacao (Theobroma cacao) in Central America and its worldwide spread
Plants in Mallow family on this site
AI-generated, needs verification