Hollyhock

Description:

Looking like a Chinese Dragon coming towards the viewer, this hollyhock stalk and flower were bending down in the late afternoon heat. The hollyhocks make up about 60 species of flowering plants in the genus Alcea (Ál-ce-a) in the mallow family Malvaceae, native to southwest and central Asia. They are biennial or short-lived perennial plants growing to 3.5 m tall, with broad, rounded, palmately lobed leaves and numerous flowers, pink or yellow in the wild species, on the erect central stem.