Definition of "mallow"
mallow
noun
plural mallows
Any of a group of flowering plants in several genera of the taxonomic family Malvaceae, especially of the genus Malva. Several species are edible by humans.
Quotations
Gonzalo. Had I plantation of this isle, my lord,—Antonio. He’ld sow’t with nettle-seed.Sebastian. Or docks, or mallows.
1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act II, scene i]
Not Heathpout, or the rarer Bird, / Which Phasis, or Ionia yields, / More pleasing Morsels would afford / Than the fat Olives of my Fields; / Than Shards or Mallows for the Pot, / That keep the loosen’d Body sound, / Or than the Lamb that falls by Lot, / To the just Guardian of my Ground.
1684, John Dryden, “From Horace, Epode 2”, in The Second Part of Miscellany Poems, 4th edition, London: Jacob Tonson, page 79
The Time Traveller paused, put his hand into his pocket, and silently placed two withered flowers, not unlike very large white mallows, upon the little table. Then he resumed his narrative.
1895 May 7, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, chapter 7, in The Time Machine: An Invention, New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt and Company