Location: Wildlife Plant Garden

Names:

• Common Name: Turk’s Cap
• Botanical Name: Malvaviscus arboreus v. drummondii
• AKA: Wax Mallow, Bleeding Hearts, Mexican Apple, Manzanita, Texas Mallow

Description: A coarse shrub, upper stems greenish and velvety to the touch, woody near the base. Occasional in light shade near streams. Leaves, including petioles, up to 5 inches or more long; blades as broad as long, broadly heart shaped to weakly 3 lobed, with broad teeth, upper surface dark green, lower surface lighter and velvety, palmately veined. Flowers showy, petals bright red, overlapping, 1 inch or more long, pistil and stamens forming a column protruding 3/4 inch beyond the petals, appearing mostly in late summer and fall. Fruit red, a 5 lobed capsule cupped in green remnants of the flower.

Best Growing Conditions: Full Sun; Partial or Full Shade; Low to Medium Water Demand

Landscape Use: Salt Tolerant, Focal Point/Specimen Plant

Wildlife Value: Birds (including Hummingbirds), Butterflies (nectar source)