Alcea Alcea Alcea is a genus of about 60 species of flowering plants in the mallow family Malvaceae, commonly known as the hollyhocks. They are native to Asia and Europe. The single species of hollyhock from the Western Hemisphere, the streambank wild hollyhock, belongs to a different genus. Hollyhocks are annual, biennial, or perennial plants usually taking an erect, unbranched form. The herbage usually has a coating of star-shaped hairs. The leaf blades are often lobed or toothed, and are borne on long petioles. The flowers may be solitary or arranged in fascicles or racemes. The notched petals are usually over
Rhodiola rosea and 4 petals, yellow to greenish yellow in color sometimes tipped with red, about long, and blooming in summer. Several shoots growing from the same thick root may reach in height. "R. rosea" is dioecious – having separate female and male plants. "Rhodiola rosea" was first described by Pedanius Dioscorides in De Materia Medica. Western North American plants formerly included in "R. rosea" are now treated as "Rhodiola integrifolia" and "Rhodiola rhodantha". About 140 chemical compounds are in the subterranean portions of "R. rosea". "Rhodiola" roots contain phenols, rosavin, rosin, rosarin, organic acids, terpenoids, phenolic acids and their derivatives, flavonoids,