Common Mallow (Malva sylvestris)

Edibility:Edible

Eating notes: The leaves are best picked earlier in the year and the immature seeds pods in mid to late summer. The leaves have a glutinous quality when cooked and are often used for thickening soups and stews. The seed pods (or 'cheeses') can be pickled or quickly fried/roasted.

A common bushy sprawling plant of waste ground and field edges.

Height: 40 - 100cm

Leaves: Broad and palmate, with shallow rounded teeth along the edges. Often have a dark spot where the leaf joins the stem.

Flowers: Pink 5 petalled with radiating darker lines. Petals have a distinct notch in the end.

Stems: Branching and downy.

Seed pods: These form from mid summer and appear as small green doughnut-shaped nut clusters.