A. Gray, Mem. Amer. Acad. 4:21 (1849).
Derivation: Latin malva, the mallow; -aster, a suffix denoting the diminutive.
Synonymy: Not Applicable
Common name: None
Erect perennial herbs with numerous stellate hairs; leaves not lobed, coarsely toothed.
Flowers bisexual, sessile in dense terminal spikes, not showy; epicalyx of 3 free linear segments; sepals fused towards the base to form a campanulate calyx with 5 long-attenuate lobes; petals 5, slightly longer than the sepals, orange or yellow; staminal tube narrow, with many anthers at the apex; carpels 8-12 in a single whorl; stigmas capitate, on the same number of slender style branches as the carpels; ovule 1 in each carpel.
Fruit more or less disc-shaped, flat or depressed above, consisting of 8-12 fruitlets (mericarps), which are laterally compressed, reniform, sometimes awned, indehiscent at least at first.
Probably about 12 species, native to the warmer parts of the Americas.
Not yet available