| the plant family Malvaceae, characterized by herbaceous plants, shrubs, and trees having palmately veined, lobed, or compound leaves, sticky juice, often showy five-petaled flowers with stamens united in a column, and fruit in the form of a capsule with several divisions, and including the cotton plant, hibiscus, hollyhock, mallow, okra, and rose of Sharon. |
| mallow family | |
noun | |
| herbs and shrubs and some trees: mallows; cotton; okra [syn: Malvaceae] |