Pink Musk Mallow

Did you know

• The leaves and flowers emit a faint musky scent when crushed, which is unusual among mallows and gives the species its name.
• All parts of the plant are edible — the leaves make a mucilaginous salad green and the flowers garnish desserts.
• The finely divided upper leaves look completely different from the rounded basal leaves, an unusual trait in one plant.
• Mallow root mucilage was the original ingredient in marshmallows before gelatin replaced it.
• It naturalizes along roadsides across New England, where it was introduced as a cottage garden flower by colonial settlers.

Color meanings

Uses

• cottage gardens
• wildflower meadows
• edible gardens
• pollinator habitat