Annual or perennial, erect or decumbent herbs. Leaves usually lobed, sometimes entire. Flowers axillary, solitary or fascicled or in pseudo-raceme on terminal branches, pedicellate. Epicalyx segments 6-12, connate below. Calyx 5-lobed. Corolla small, usually up to 2 cm long. Staminal tube cylindric, pubescent; anthers brownish purple. Mericarps 8-25, each 1-celled, wingless, dorsally with prominent nerve.

A genus with about a dozen species distributed in Africa, Asia and Europe In Pakistan it is represented by 3 species.

Doubtful species

1. Althaea villosa Blatt. in J.Ind.Bot.Soc.9:201.1930.

2. Althaea villosoides Blatt., l.c. 202.

Blatter described both these species from the specimens collected by Fernandez at Miran Shah, N. Waziristan. The respective specimens F. 804 and F. 805 are presumed to be present at St.Xavier College Bombay. Director, of the harbarium kindly informed that these specimens were probably lost.

Lower Taxa

• Althaea cannabina Linn.
• Althaea ludwigii Linn.
• Althaea officinalis Linn.