Althaea officinalis
species of plant
Althaea officinalis, the marsh mallow or marshmallow, is a species of flowering plant indigenous to Europe, Western Asia and North Africa, which is used in herbalism and as an ornamental plant.
Description
This herbaceous perennial grows to 180 cm (6 ft) tall and puts out only a few lateral branches. The whole plant is softly stellate-hairy, especially the leaves, which are broadly triangular to oval, often with 3–5 shallow lobes, irregularly toothed, with cordate to cuneate bases. Leaf size varies considerably, up to 100 mm (4 in) long, and 75 mm (3 in) wide. The leaves are arranged alternately along the stem, with no stipules, on petioles up to 45 mm (1.75 in).
The inflorescences occur in the leaf axils and at the top of the stem and consist of panicles of 1-many flowers. The flowers are actinomorphic with 5 lilac/pink petals up to 2 cm (0.8 in) long and 5 green sepals which are much shorter than the petals, and fused at the base. Below the petals is a cup-shaped epicalyx with 6–9 narrow, triangular lobes, half the length of the sepals. The purple stamens are united into a tube, the anthers kidney-shaped and one-celled. There is one style which protrudes above the stamen tube.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Althaea officinalis” is species of plant. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Althaea, officinalis and species, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “species of plant” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q158496. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
Current terminology should not be projected backward without checking the classification used when the underlying evidence was created. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Althaea officinalis” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.