Botany: Learning Common Plants by Family, part 9: The Mallow Family

I awoke this morning with the study of the Mallow family on our schedule so I checked to see if my hibiscus plant was blooming and was pleasantly surprised to find it in full bloom! This is the last family we are studying this year using Thomas Elpel's books Botany in a Day and Shanlaya's Quest. You know you have a member of the Mallow family when you find a funnel shaped flower with 5 separate petals and a distinctive column of stamens surrounding the pistil. There are also 3-5 partially united sepals. If you crush any part of the plant and rub it between your fingers and you will notice a slimy substance or texture (called mucilaginous in botany terms.) They all made sketches of this family for their nature journals.

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