Seasonal Wild Flowers

Latin name

Lavatera cretica

Family

Malvaceae

Flowering season

April to July     - it was flowering during September on

Bryher,  Isles of Scilly, in 2014 and 2022.

English distribution

It is naturalised in the Isles of Scilly and is sporadically

found in Cornwall, Devon and Dorset and a few other

places

See the BSBI distribution map for Smaller Tree-mallow

Habitat

It is a neophyte, which was introduced into the UK in the

1720s and was naturalised in the Scillies by the 1870s.

It may be native in the Scillies and the Southwest.

It grows in sandy soils close to the sea, in bulb fields,

waysides and disturbed waste ground.

Description

Smaller Tree-mallow is an annual or biennial, prostrate to

erect herb, growing up to 150cm.

Flowers are lilac.

The petals are well separated at their bases and are

notched.

The calyx is cup-shaped and there are 3 oval dorsal sepals.

Fruits have 3 spreading dorsal lobes - not as big as inTree

Mallow.

The nutlets are smooth.

Lower leaves are roundish and upper leaves have 5 lobes.

Stems are herbaceous with stellate hairs.