Alcea setosa Alcea setosa Alcea setosa, the bristly hollyhock, is an ornamental plant in the family Malvaceae. The bristly hollyhock is native to the Levant, ranging from Crete and Turkey to Israel and Jordan. The part above ground of the plant withers and dies in the summer. In the winter, a rosette of flowers develops and a vertical flowering stem grows out of it. The pink flowers are numerous and large, while in the Galilee and the Carmel the flowers are darker and in the Gilboa and Samaria the flowers are lighter. The whole plant is bristly, hence its common name. The
Acis rosea (flower stalks) are short, 1–5 mm long. There are two spathes. "Acis rosea" was first described in 1804 by F. Martin, as "Leucojum roseum". In 1829, Robert Sweet transferred it to "Acis". However, "Acis" was not accepted by most botanists, who continued to use a broadly circumscribed "Leucojum". "Acis" was reinstated in 2004, after it was determined on morphological and molecular grounds that the broadly defined genus "Leucojum" was paraphyletic. "Acis rosea" is native to the two western Mediterranean islands of Corsica and Sardinia. It is found in rocky ground, dry pastures and sandy places. "Acis rosea" is cultivated as