Malva assurgentiflora aka Island Mallow

Malva assurgentiflora is a shrub from California’s Channel Islands. It belongs to the mallow family, Malvaceae. Its common names include mission mallow and malva rosa. The RHS accepts Malva assurgentiflora as the correct name. It lists Lavatera assurgentiflora as another name for this species. Both names refer to the same plant here. Kew says its native climate is subtropical. The plant is not native to Britain or Ireland.

Virginia Tech calls it a sprawling shrub with several stems. It gives a height of up to 12 feet [3.7 metres]. Kew lists it as a shrub or tree. Both accounts describe a woody plant, not an annual mallow. Its branches spread from a base with more than one stem. The bark is smooth and gray-brown in color. The stout twigs differ in color: they are gray-green. Their buds are round, with a dome-like shape. The plant also has broad leaves that stay green year-round.

The leaves stay on the plant instead of dropping each year. Virginia Tech calls them opposite and simple. Each leaf has one blade with deep lobes in its outline. The whole blade has a round shape. Leaves can reach 0.5 feet [0.15 metres] in length. Each leaf has five to seven lobes. Coarse teeth line the edges of each leaf. The top of the leaf is green; the underside is paler. Leaf size, lobes, and toothed edges help tell this plant apart. The difference in shade between the two sides helps too.

The flowers range from bright pink to violet. Each flower has five petals marked with dark veins. Virginia Tech calls the petals rectangular and the flowers showy. Their strong color stands out against the green leaves. The fruit is a disc-shaped capsule on a long stalk. Each capsule has six to eight parts. Its flat shape differs from the round buds and lobed leaves. The flowers and fruit also help tell this species apart.

The sources give no flowering season for this plant. They give no species-level advice on soil, watering, or hardiness. They do not show whether it has edible or medicinal uses. Nor do they establish whether it is toxic. The supplied evidence lists no pest or disease problems.