Herb – Common Mallow
Common Mallow
When I began my interest in herbs I was astounded to find how many flowers are actually herbs. One of these is the common mallow plant. I have used it as a flower for years not aware of it’s herbal qualities.
Mallow is a herbaceous biennial, sprawling or bushy that grows to about 3 feet. The flowers are pink, white or mauve and the plant flowers in the summer and once again in autumn, then gray-green button like seed capsules are formed. It is a wild plant that grows on banks but is also cultivated as a flowering plant in many gardens. The color name mauve comes from the French word for the mallow plant.
Malva sylvestris
- Image via Wikipedia
Uses
The whole plant is mucilaginous (gummy) and therefore soothing. The leaves can be used to reduce inflammations and to ease the sting from bees. Poultices are used to treat external and internal ulcers and hemorrhoids. The tea made from an infusion of the flowers are great to treat the sore throats that accompany a cold or bronchitis. The early Egyptians made a type of a marshmallow candy out of the sap from the mallow plant. Leaves can be added to soups or cooked like spinach and the seed-pods can be eaten raw or boiled.
How to Make Marshmallow Tea
- Leaf tea: 2 – 5 tsp of dried leaf in 5 ounces hot (not boiling) water, two to three times per day
- Root tea: 2 – 5 tsp. dried powdered root in 5 ounces hot water; let soak for an hour. Drink two to three times per day.
What are Marshmallows?
A confection made from the root of the marsh mallow or from corn syrup, sugar, albumen, and gelatin beaten to a light spongy consistency.
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=de1b7638-edaa-4294-8c29-5f4031f58102)
I had no idea there were so many uses for such a beautiful, innocuous flower/herb. I’m absolutely going to try the tea.
I find it very interesting that the marshnallows we purchase in the stores today are named after “marsh mallows”.
I have eaten the little round “cheesies” as they called them from the time I was a child. The leaves, stems, flowers and roots are edible, but the root is most prized for remedies.