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
Rhodopetala rosea solely on shell characteristics), Lindberg proposed the creation of a new subfamily within the Acmaeidae to be called "Rhodopetaleinae" with this species as its only member. It is distinguished from the other subfamilies of this family by its helcioniform rather than conical shell, a silvery metallic luster in its central area rather than a porcelaneous quality, and the presence of a rudimentary gill lacking ctenidial structures. It is the combination of the shell structure (patellid) and anatomy (acmaeid) which suggest this is an intermediary group between the acmaeid and cellanid limpets. Rhodopetala rosea Rhodopetala rosea, common name the pink limpet,