Hollyhock Plant
The Hollyhock Plant; or the Caveman, the Greek Physician, the Shogun, and the Painted Lady
The Hollyhock plant is an umbrella name for 50 species of flowering plants. The scientific name for the Hollyhock plant is Alcea. Each and everyone of these flowers is amazingly beautiful and can hold its own against any other flower, but don’t take my word, for it, just ask the Caveman, the Greek Physician, the Shogun, or the Painted Lady. Each of them has developed a special relationship with the Hollyhock.
The Shanidar Hollyhock: It seems that humankind’s love affair with the Hollyhock may stretch back to prehistory—at least if the original discoverers of the Neanderthal caves of the Shanidar are correct. The caves—discovered by Columbia Paleontologist Ralph Solecki in the 1950’s—housed what one of his present day colleagues believes to be a ancient tomb. Samples from this cave revealed a number of plants—all of which have medicinal properties of which the Neanderthals of Shanidar may have been aware. Among these plants was Hollyhock. Some paleontologists believe the Shanidar placed these in with the dead in a form of burial ritual.
However, some other curmudgeons in the paleontology world suggest the flowers were actually horded with the bones by animals. Like any good mystery, this just adds to the intrigue of the Hollyhock.
The Greek Physician’s Hollyhock: Although many have disowned the mallow flower as part of the Hollyhock plant family, the Althea (mallow) has developed a long medicinal tradition that the Hollyhock can still claim. It is a shorter, less ambitious plant in appearance when compared to true Hollyhocks (Alcea), but the ancient Greek physicians knew that its root could lower inflammation, help with digestion, solidify defecation, and even reduce pains of the tooth and ear. For this reason, the ancient physicians gave it its name, which means, “to heal”.
Even today, many would-be healers have continued the Greek love affair with the Hollyhock mallow, seeing the plant as good treatment for not only the common sore throat but as an aid in staving off the effects of ulcers in the mouth, throat, or stomach.
The Tokugawa Mon: But it is not just the Neanderthals and the Ancient Greeks that loved the Hollyhock. One of the most storied families ever to rule Japan so closely identified with the Hollyhock they choose it as their symbol. The Tokugawa Shogunate, that ruled Japan for more then two centuries, placed three leaves of a yellow Hollyhock on their mon (family crest).
This powerful ruling family was in power when the West first made contact with Japan, and their influence is so powerful that even today their Mon is incorporated into modern Japanese institutions. You can still see the symbol on the Jerseys of the Mito Division 2 Soccer Club, for example.
The Painted Lady: But it is not just the human species that sees the attraction of the Hollyhock--or even just mammals. Those who raise Painted Lady butterflies know that the Hollyhock plant is one of the favorites of this equally beautiful butterfly with the mottled yellow, brown and white wings. But not when it is full-grown. The Painted Ladies feed on these beautiful Hollyhocks when they are just in larval form. It is almost as if they are feeding on the Hollyhock’s beauty to prepare for their own sublime future forms.
And you?
But one need be neither Neanderthal nor Physician, Shogun nor Butterfly, to love the Hollyhock. Take the Black Cherry Fig Hollyhock. If you love a flower so intensely purple that the corolla looks as if has been saturated in beet juice, then you’ve found your flower. The deeper you get into the flower cup, the darker the flower’s hue. But in the center, the yellow pistil with tiny Medusa-like stamen rises up to give the flower some variety.
With flowers like this included in the Hollyhock family, the only wonder is that more families have not taken it up as their crests.