Malva alcea Malva alcea Malva alcea (greater musk-mallow, cut-leaved mallow, vervain mallow or hollyhock mallow) is a plant in the mallow family native to southwestern, central and eastern Europe and southwestern Asia, from Spain north to southern Sweden and east to Russia and Turkey. It is a herbaceous perennial plant growing to 50–125 cm tall, with stems covered in stellate hairs, meaning they branch at the free end into several strands. The leaves are 2–8 cm long and 2–8 cm broad, palmately lobed with five to seven blunt lobes; basal leaves on the lower stem are very shallowly lobed, those higher on
Caladenia hirta subsp. rosea first formally described by John Lindley in 1840 and the description was published in "A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony" but in 2001 Stephen Hopper and Andrew Brown described two subspecies, including subspecies "rosea" and the description of the two subspecies was published in "Nuytsia". The subspecies name ("rosea") is a Latin word meaning “of roses" referring to the colour of the flowers of this orchid. The pink candy orchid is widespread throughout the south-west bioregion, from Kalbarri in the north to Israelite Bay in the east. It grows in woodland and shrubland as well as