Malva subovata (DC.) Molero & J.M.Monts.
Lavatera maritima Gouan, L. africana Cav., Althaea maritima (Gouan) Kuntze, Axolopha maritima Alef.
Eng.: Sea mallow, bush mallow. Spa.: Malvavisco loco, malvavisco marino. Fre.: Lavatère maritime. Ara.: Kerm el amar, kermet el far, melliha.
Hermaphrodite shrub, up to 2.5(3) m in height, erect, not very dense. Trunk generally well defined, rarely branched from the base, with greyish bark, highly fissured in older specimens. Branches open, extended-upright, sometimes very upright, almost perpendicular, interlacing; older branches with greyish bark, rugose, glabrous, with numerous scars left by fallen leaves; younger branches whitish because they are covered with a dense tomentum of small white hairs. Leaves (0.8-7 × 1-8 cm) suborbicular, with 3-5(7) lobes from rounded to subacute, which may be ± pronounced (sometimes there are almost entire leaves), green and with tomentum of whitish and stellate hairs on both sides; leaf blade flat, undulate or folded, with margin from crenate to subentire, and from cordate to subtruncate at the base. Petiole shorter than the leaf. Solitary flowers, rarely in pairs, axillary, with the peduncle as long as or longer than the petiole of the leaf on whose axil they are borne. Epicalyx with parts slightly longer than half of the calyx, free almost to the base. Calyx with lobes 4-11 mm, ovate-triangular. Epicalyx and calyx covered with the same tomentum as branchlets and leaves. Petals pinkish, with purple venation and base. Stamens very large and showy, with purple filaments, fused, and white anthers. Fruit enclosed by the accrescent calyx, composed of 10-12 mericarps or carpels arranged around a conical axis, monospermous, glabrous, blackish when mature.
Flowering:
February to May.
Fruiting:
May to August.
Habitat:
Thickets and rocky outcrops, mainly on limestone soils, in littoral and sublittoral areas, rarely further inland. From semiarid to subhumid bioclimate, on thermomediterranean and mesomediterranean floors.
Distribution:
Western Mediterranean region. In North Africa it grows in central and northern Morocco and along the littoral and sublittoral regions of the N of Algeria and Tunisia.
Observations:
In North Africa, in addition to the type subspecies, subsp. rupestris (Pomel) Molero & J.M.Monts. (L. rupestris Pomel) is also found, which is distinguished by its membranous calyx (in the type subspecies, the calyx is herbaceous), vesicular, and flowers in small groups of 2-3. It is endemic to North Africa, much scarcer than the type subspecies, and it is distributed from the mountains and steppes of the NE end of Morocco to the pseudo-steppic mountains of central Tunisia.
Conservation status:
Fairly rare species but widely distributed. Currently, it has not been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.