Alcea "Alcea" species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including "Bucculatrix quadrigemina" and "Vanessa cardui", the painted lady. The mallow flea beetle ("Podagrica fuscicornis") is a pest that makes tiny holes in the leaves. Cutworms, aphids, and capsid bugs use the plant as a food source in hotter and drier conditions. A number of weevils use "A. rosea" as their host plant, including "Rhopalapion longirostre", "Alocentron curvirostre", and "Aspidapion validum". The plants are also susceptible to the pathogenic fungus "Puccinia malvacearum", the hollyhock rust. A hollyhock flower, known in Japan as , was incorporated into
Carex rosea is primarily confused with Carex radiata. Typically Carex rosea occurs in drier sites and has slightly narrower leaves. "Carex rosea" distribution is in essentially the eastern portion of North America. Its habitat is in dry-moist woodlands. It can adapt to various soil types and it can also live in rich ravines, and wood edges. In Canada, "C. rosea" is distributed from Nova Scotia and southern Quebec west to MN and eastern NE. "Carex rosea" can complete its life cycle in a little more than two years. Even though the genus Carex has been considered nonmycorrhizal, recent evidence has demonstrated that