7. Lavatera L. (tree mallow)

Thirteen to 40 species, North America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia.

The relationship between Lavatera and the closely related Malva is still not fully understood. Most authors have circumscribed Lavatera as a group of 25–40 species with an unusual character of united bractlets subtending the calyx. More recently, M. F. Ray (1995) suggested that the two genera should be reclassified using details of fruit structure as the basic separation (in addition to molecular characters). Under this scheme, Lavatera becomes restricted to about 13 species of the Mediterranean region, with the remaining taxa transferred to an expanded Malva. Further studies involving more species in the group are necessary to test this hypothesis.