Alcea striata (DC.) Alef.
Althaea striata DC., Althaea haussknechtii Boiss.
Ara. (Egypt): Khobbeiza.
Perennial plant, up to 0.8(1) m in height. Stems erect or ascending, slightly or not lignified, cylindrical or slightly tapered, whitish, with adpressed-tomentose hairs. Leaf blade (3)4-6 cm, broadly ovate to orbicular-cordate, entire, shallowly lobed or deeply 3-5-lobed, with terminal lobe triangular or ovate-oblong, and crenate-dentate margin. Petiole 5-18 cm, lower leaves with long petioles, upper leaves with shorter petioles. Stipules 6-8 mm. Flowers in leafy racemes; pedicel 0.3-1.5 cm thick; upper flowers subsessile. Epicalyx about half or less the length of the calyx, with 6-8 acute triangular parts. Calyx 1.5-2.0 cm, with triangular-ovate and striated lobes. Corolla 5-6 cm in diameter, whitish creamy, with notched apex and cuneate base. Fruits with numerous mericarps, between 3-5 mm, with laterally sides radially wrinkled, pilose, black, with thick margin.
Flowering:
March to June.
Fruiting:
June to September.
Habitat:
Watercourses, rocky slopes, in wastelands and fallow lands.
Distribution:
Coastal and subcoastal regions of Mediterranean Asia, from the Sinai Peninsula to Turkey.
Observations:
There are 2 subspecies, A. striata subsp. striata, with slightly lobed leaves, and A. striata subsp. rufescens (Boiss.) Cullen, with deeply lobed leaves, both found in the same distribution area.
Another species of the genus cultivated in gardening and naturalised in North Africa, is A. rosea L. [Althaea rosea (L.) Cav., Alcea ficifolia L., Althaea ficifolia (L.) Cav.]; a perennial herbaceous plant, with a woody base in many occasions. Stems 1-2.5 m in height, erect, tomentose and stellate-pubescent when young, glabrescent or sparsely pubescent. Leaves longly petiolate, orbicular or ovate, cordate, 3-5-lobed or 3-5-palmatipartite (upper leaves 3-lobed), with oblong-ovate lobes, crenate-dentate, ± tomentose, discoloured. Stipules 4-5-laciniate. Flowers shortly pedicellate, axillary, forming terminal spiciform racemes. Epicalyx with 6-8 parts, shorter than the calyx, triangular-lanceolate, ± pubescent. Calyx with lobes 15-20(25) mm, triangular, acute. Petals 30-60 cm, obovate, irregularly denticulate and pubescent at the apex, whitish, pinkish, purplish, yellowish or more rarely dark purplish (var. nigra). Mericarps 20-40, 5-8 × 4-6 mm, reniform, ± furrowed and densely setose on the dorsal side, with 2 narrow, membranous wings, and lateral sides radially striated and adpressed-setose, dark in colour. 2n = 42. It is found from sea level to 1,600 m in altitude. It seems to be native to the Balkans, but since it has been cultivated as an ornamental and for medicinal uses, it can now be found naturalised in other Mediterranean countries, including the Sinai Peninsula.
Conservation status:
Fairly rare species with a small distribution area. Currently, it has not been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.