Malvaceae in the context of Corchorus olitorius

In Greek mythology, Althaea (/ælˈθiːə/; Ancient Greek: Ἀλθαία, romanized: Althaía, lit. 'healer' from ἀλθαίνω althaino, "to cure", also "a kind of mallow"), also rendered Althea or Althaia, was queen of Calydon through her marriage to King Oeneus. Althaea appears in myths surrounding the fabled Calydonian boar hunt, and is infamous for murdering her son Meleager.

Cotton (from Arabic qutn) is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus Gossypium in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor percentages of waxes, fats, pectins, and water. Under natural conditions, the cotton bolls will increase the dispersal of the seeds.

The plant is a shrub native to tropical and subtropical regions around the world, including the Americas, Africa, Egypt and India. The greatest diversity of wild cotton species is found in Mexico, followed by Australia and Africa. Cotton was independently domesticated in the Old and New Worlds.

Hildegardia is a genus of trees in the family Malvaceae. The genus includes 12 species with a pantropical distribution.

In older systems of classification, it was placed in Sterculiaceae, but all members of that family are now in an expanded Malvaceae. The genus is named for Saint Hildegard of Bingen due to her contributions to herbal medicine.

Ceiba pentandra is a tropical tree of the order Malvales and the family Malvaceae (previously placed in the family Bombacaceae), native to Central America, the Caribbean, and the northern half of South America; some authors also consider it native in western and central Africa. It is widely introduced in other tropical regions including South and Southeast Asia, where it is cultivated.

The tree and the cotton-like fluff obtained from its seed pods are commonly known in English as kapok, a Malay-derived name which originally applied to the related species Bombax ceiba, a native of tropical Asia. In Spanish-speaking countries the tree is commonly known as "ceiba" and in French-speaking countries as fromager. The tree is cultivated for its cottonlike seed fibre, particularly in south-east Asia, and is also known as the Java cotton, Java kapok, silk-cotton or samauma.

Tilia is a genus of about 30 species of trees or bushes, native throughout most of the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The species are known as linden or lime for the European and Asian species, and linden or basswood for North American species and more generally in American literature. The greatest species diversity is found in Asia, but the genus also occurs widely in Europe and eastern North America. Under the Cronquist classification system, this genus was placed in the family Tiliaceae, but genetic research summarised by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group has resulted in the incorporation of this genus, and of most of the previous family, into the Malvaceae.

Tilia is the only known ectomycorrhizal genus in the family Malvaceae. Studies of ectomycorrhizal relations of Tilia species indicate a wide range of fungal symbionts and a preference toward Ascomycota fungal partners.

Gossypium barbadense is one of several species of cotton. It is in the mallow family. It has been cultivated since antiquity, but has been especially prized since a form with particularly long fibers was developed in the 19th century. Other names associated with this species include Sea Island, Egyptian, Pima, and extra-long staple (ELS) cotton.

The species is a tropical, frost-sensitive perennial that produces yellow flowers and has black seeds. It grows as a bush or small tree and yields cotton with unusually long, silky fibers.

Jute (/dʒuːt/ JOOT) is a long, rough, shiny bast fibre that can be spun into coarse, strong threads. It is produced from flowering plants in the genus Corchorus, of the mallow family Malvaceae. The primary source of the fiber is Corchorus olitorius, but such fiber is considered inferior to that derived from Corchorus capsularis.

Jute fibers, composed primarily of cellulose and lignin, are collected from bast (the phloem of the plant, sometimes called the "skin"). The industrial term for jute fiber is raw jute. The fibers are off-white to brown and range from 1–4 meters (3.3–13.1 ft) long. In Bangladesh, jute is called the "golden fiber" for its color and monetary value.

Kenaf [etymology: Persian], Hibiscus cannabinus, is a plant in the family Malvaceae also called Deccan hemp and Java jute. Hibiscus cannabinus is in the genus Hibiscus and is native to Africa, though its exact origin is unknown. The name also applies to the fibre obtained from this plant. Kenaf is one of the allied fibres of jute and shows similar characteristics.

Gossypium (/ɡɒˈsɪpiəm/) is a genus of flowering plants in the tribe Gossypieae of the mallow family, Malvaceae, from which cotton is harvested. It is native to tropical and subtropical regions of the Old and New Worlds. There are about 50 Gossypium species, making it the largest genus in the tribe Gossypieae, and new species continue to be discovered. The name of the genus is derived from the Arabic word goz, which refers to a soft substance.

Cotton is the primary natural fibre used by humans today, amounting to about 80% of world natural fibre production. Where cotton is cultivated, it is a major oilseed crop and a main protein source for animal feed. Cotton is thus of great importance for agriculture, industry and trade, especially for tropical and subtropical countries in Africa, South America and Asia. Consequently, the genus Gossypium has long attracted the attention of scientists.

Sterculiaceae was a family of flowering plant based on the genus Sterculia. Genera formerly included in Sterculiaceae are now placed in the family Malvaceae, in the subfamilies: Byttnerioideae, Dombeyoideae, Helicteroideae and Sterculioideae.

As traditionally circumscribed the Sterculiaceae, Malvaceae, Bombacaceae, and Tiliaceae comprise the "core Malvales" of the Cronquist system and the close relationship among these families is generally recognized. Sterculiaceae may be separated from Malvaceae sensu stricto by the smooth surface of the pollen grains and the bilocular anthers.

Sidalcea malviflora is a species of flowering plant in the mallow family, known by the common names dwarf checkerbloom, Greek mallow, prairie mallow and dwarf checkermallow.

Theobroma cacao (cacao tree or cocoa tree) is a small (6–12 m (20–39 ft) tall) evergreen tree in the Malvaceae family. Its seeds—cocoa beans—are used to make chocolate liquor, cocoa solids, cocoa butter and chocolate. Although the tree is native to the tropics of the Americas, the largest producer of cocoa beans in 2022 was Ivory Coast. The plants leaves are alternate, entire, unlobed, 10–50 cm (4–20 in) long and 5–10 cm (2–4 in) broad.

Alcea is a genus of over 80 species of flowering plants in the mallow family Malvaceae, commonly known as the hollyhocks. They are native to Asia and Europe. The single species of hollyhock from the Americas, the streambank wild hollyhock, belongs to a different genus.

Ochroma pyramidale, commonly known as balsa, is a large, fast-growing tree native to the Americas. It is the sole member of the genus Ochroma, and is classified in the subfamily Bombacoideae of the mallow family Malvaceae. The tree is famous for its wide usage in woodworking, due to its softness and its high strength compared to its low density. The name balsa is the Spanish word for "raft" and the Portuguese word for ferry.

A deciduous angiosperm, Ochroma pyramidale can grow up to 30 metres (100 feet) tall, and is classified as a hardwood despite the wood itself being very soft; it is the softest commercial hardwood and is widely used because of its light weight.

Sida fallax, known as yellow ilima, golden mallow, or ʻIlima is a species of herbaceous flowering plant in the Hibiscus family, Malvaceae, indigenous to the Hawaiian Archipelago and other Pacific Islands. Plants may be erect or prostrate and are found in drier areas in sandy soils, often near the ocean. ʻIlima is the symbol of Laloimehani and is the flower for the islands of Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi, and Abemama, Kiribati.

It is known as ʻilima or ʻāpiki in Hawaiian and as kio in Marshallese, te kaura in Kiribati, idibin ekaura in Nauruan, and akatā in Tuvalu.

Bombacaceae were long recognised as a family of flowering plants or Angiospermae. The family name was based on the type genus Bombax. As is true for many botanical names, circumscription and status of the taxon has varied with taxonomic point of view, and currently the preference is to transfer most of the erstwhile family Bombacaceae to the subfamily Bombacoideae within the family Malvaceae in the order Malvales. The rest of the family were transferred to other taxa, notably the new family Durionaceae. Irrespective of current taxonomic status, many of the species originally included in the Bombacaceae are of considerable ecological, historical, horticultural, and economic importance, such as balsa, kapok, baobab and durian.

Ceiba is a genus of trees in the family Malvaceae, native to tropical and subtropical areas of the Americas (from Mexico and the Caribbean to northern Argentina) and tropical West Africa. Some species can grow to 70 m (230 ft) tall or more, with a straight, largely branchless trunk that culminates in a huge, spreading canopy, and buttress roots that can be taller than a grown person. The best-known, and most widely cultivated, species is kapok, Ceiba pentandra, one of several trees known as kapok. Ceiba is a word from the Taíno language meaning "boat" because Taínos use the wood to build their dugout canoes.

Ceiba species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera (butterfly and moth) species, including the leaf-miner Bucculatrix ceibae, which feeds exclusively on the genus.