Lavatera thuringiaca

Lavatera thuringiaca, the garden tree-mallow, is a species of flowering plant in the mallow family Malvaceae, native to eastern Europe and southwestern Asia, from southern Germany south to Italy, and east to southern Russia, Kazakhstan, and Turkey.[1][2]

Lavatera thuringiaca
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Malvales
Family: Malvaceae
Genus: Lavatera
Species:
L. thuringiaca
Binomial name
Lavatera thuringiaca
’Barnsley’, a cultivar of L. × clementii

It is a herbaceous perennial plant growing to 1.8 m tall. The leaves are up to 9 cm long and broad, palmately lobed with three or five lobes, and downy with greyish hairs. The flowers are pink, 3–6 cm diameter, with five petals; they are produced throughout the summer.[1][3][4][5]

There are two subspecies:[1][2]

  • Lavatera thuringiaca subsp. thuringiaca. Most of the species' range, except as below. Upper leaves bluntly lobed.
  • Lavatera thuringiaca subsp. ambigua (DC.) Nyman. Southern France, Italy, western Balkans. Upper leaves acutely lobed.

Garden plants

Most of the popular shrubby garden cultivars traditionally listed under this species are actually hybrids between it and Lavatera olbia; these hybrids are now named Lavatera × clementii.[1] The following cultivars have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit:-[6]

References
  1. Malvaceae Pages: Herbaceous Lavateras
  2. Flora Europaea: Lavatera thuringiaca
  3. Blamey, M. & Grey-Wilson, C. (1989). Flora of Britain and Northern Europe. ISBN 0-340-40170-2
  4. Huxley, A., ed. (1992). New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. Macmillan ISBN 0-333-47494-5.
  5. Könemann (2004). Botanica. The Illustrated AZ of over 10000 garden plants and how to cultivate them. ISBN 3-8331-1253-0
  6. "AGM Plants - Ornamental" (PDF). Royal Horticultural Society. July 2017. p. 59. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
  7. "RHS Plant Selector - Lavatera x clementii 'Bredon Springs'". Retrieved 2 October 2020.
  8. "RHS Plant Selector - Lavatera x clementii 'Burgundy Wine'". Retrieved 2 October 2020.
  9. "RHS Plant Selector - Lavatera x clementii 'Candy Floss'". Retrieved 2 October 2020.
  10. "RHS Plant Selector - Lavatera x clementii 'Rosea'". Retrieved 2 October 2020.
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