Domestic Encyclopædia (1802)/Tree-Mallow

TREE-MALLOW, the Sea, or Velvet-leaf, Lavatera arborea, L. an indigenous biennial, growing on the sea-shores, where it flowers from July to October.—This being the only native species of eleven plants, belonging to the same genus, we shall briefly remark, that all the Tree-mallows deserve to be more generally cultivated, both in gardens and fields; not only for their elegant flowers, which abound with honey, but chiefly for the valuable material obtained from their fibrous stalks:—We learn from Bechstein, that such stalks may, with equal advantage, be converted into paper, and pack-thread or bass, serving as a substitute for hemp.