mallow

Etymology

From Middle English malwe, from Old English mealwe, borrowed from Latin malva. Compare the doublet mauve.

noun

1. 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.
   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
   1840, Robert Browning, Sordello, Book IV, in Sordello; Strafford; Christmas-Eve and Easter-Day, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1863, p. 112, The thoroughfares were overrun with weed — Docks, quitchgrass, loathly mallows no man plants.
   'Twas early June, the new grass was flourishing everywheres, the posies in the yard—peonies and such—in full bloom, the sun was shining, and the water of the bay was blue, with light green streaks where the shoal showed. 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 1, in Mr. Pratt's Patients
   Hallo Hallo, brain of tallow, / Guts are gone, noggin’s hollow. / Seeking sweets and marshing mallows, / Watch your back, and your candy sack. Oct 19 2017, “Hallohallo”, in Circuit Break, Konami
2. Larentia clavaria, an uncommon moth found across Eurasia.