Commemorating J.K. Lavater, a Swiss physician and naturalist of the 17th century.
Erect, hairy, soft-wooded shrubs or annual or perennial herbs. Leaves lobe and toothed, palmately veined; long-stalked. Flowers axillay, solitary or in clusters, stalked. Epicalyx of 3 bracts fused at the base. Sepals 5, fused at the base. Petals 5, notched at the tip, pink, purple or white. Staminal column with anthers at the tip. Carpels 6-16 in a single whorl. Stigma along inner face of the style branches. Ovules 1 per carpel. Fruit a discoid schizocarp with persistent central column.
L. plebeia Sims, Native Hollyhock, is an Australian native species that occurs in all states except Tasmania; it grows to 4 m tall with an epicalyx shorter than the sepals and petals more than 2 cm long-it is not cultivated.
Several naturalised species are of widespread occurrence. For example, L. arborea L., Tree Mallow, grows 1-3 m tall and has epicalyx segments longer than the sepals; it is naturalised in Vic, SA, NSW. L. cretica L., Cretan Hollyhock, grows to 1.5 m tall; it has an epicalyx shorter than the sepals, petals less than 8 mm long and is naturalised in Vic, SA, WA and NSW.
Fruit a schizocarp; 3 fused epicalyx bracts; stigmas along styles.
About 25 species northern hemisphere (1 species endemic to Australia).
Source: (1997). Hibiscus. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 2. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 1. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.
