Malva nicaeensis is a species of flowering plant in the mallow family known by the common names bull mallow
Description
Malva nicaeensis is an annual or biennial herb producing a hairy, upright stem up to long.
The leaves are up to wide and have several slight lobes along the edges.
Flowers appear in the leaf axils, each with pinkish to light purple petals around long. The disc-shaped fruit has several segments.
Distribution and habitat
In the
Levant, mallows grow profusely after the first winter rains.
Uses
The leaves and stems are edible, and are widely collected for food, as they make an excellent garnish when chopped and fried in olive-oil with onions and spices. In Israel, the plant is renowned for having fed the besieged Jewish population in the 1948 Battle for Jerusalem, its use similar to
spinach. A particularly famous preparation are the
Khubeza patties.
Apicius, a collection of Roman cookery recipes, mentions
garum being used as a
Broth to flavor cooked mallows.
[Apicius, De Re Coquinaria (Book III, section VIII)]
== Botanical gallery ==
External links
