Hollyhock

Hollyhock. Althcca rosea, chinensis, and ficifolia, are tall-growing perennial herbaceous members of the mallow family introduced into our gardens from the Holy Land. They grow best in a well-manured sandy loam either from seed or from cuttings. Their tall spikes of flowers vary much in colour, being white, yellow, pink, deep-red, violet or almost black, but never a true blue. Some have single and others double flowers. Their stamens are protandrous, and the pollen of each variety apparently prepotent on the stigmas of the same variety, so that these varieties are exceptionally true to seed. The ravages of a mildew (Puccinia malvaccarum), which attacks the cellular tissue of the leaf, especially in dry seasons, have much diminished the cultivation of this group of plants.