A pantropical herb with soft heart-shaped leaves and small yellow flowers, used for fiber, fodder, and traditional Ayurvedic medicine across South Asia.
Description
Indian mallow is a soft branching shrubby herb with broad heart-shaped leaves covered in fine hairs. Small yellow saucer-shaped flowers open in the afternoon and close at night.
Cultivation
Quick to grow on disturbed ground in warm climates, Indian mallow tolerates poor soil and drought. In cooler zones it is occasionally grown as a tender annual for cut foliage.
Uses
In Ayurveda the leaves and roots are used as a soothing herbal preparation. The stem bark produces a coarse fiber once used for cordage and the seeds have been recorded as bird and goat food.
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Indian Mallow starts with I and ends with W. Browse other plants along the same letter.
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