Mallows are a cosmopolitan family that includes cotton and okra. Apart from these two plants, it is best known for its ornamentals (Hibiscus; hollyhock).
The leaves are alternate and have stipules and, very often, star-like hairs. The flowers are radially symmetric, bisexual, and have 5 free sepals and 5 free petals. It is the arrangement of the stamens that makes the family easy to identify. First, there are lots of them but, more importantly, their filaments are united, forming a cylinder around the pistil, a cylinder with anthers coming out of various locations of its upper portion. The pistil is compound, with 5 or more cells in the ovary. The style is branched, making it relatively easy to determine how many cells are present. The fruits are button-like and composed of numerous segments.
A family of over 1500 herbs, shrubs and small trees of both tropical and temperate regions.