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
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