Alcea rosea, the common hollyhock, is an ornamental dicot flowering plant in the family Malvaceae. It was imported into Europe from southwestern China during, or possibly before, the 15th century. William Turner, a herbalist of the time, gave it the name "holyoke" from which the English name derives.
Description
Alcea rosea is a 2.4 metres (8 feet) tall plant with large flowers around 13 centimetres (5 in) in diameter. Its leaves are large and heart-shaped.
Ecology
The flowers attract hummingbirds in the Americas, and butterflies.
The leaves are vulnerable to rust, leaf spot and anthracnose. Pest problems include Japanese beetle and spider mites; though damage to the leaves can be extensive, the flowers are rarely affected. In contrast, females of the hollyhock weevil (Rhopalapion longirostre) bore holes into the flower calyx of the plants in which they lay their eggs. The larvae that hatch then feed upon the developing seeds, leaving each resulting pod full of desiccated husks of the seeds.
