Alcea digitata

Alcea digitata, the fingered hollyhock, is a tall hollyhock with large flowers native to the Middle East.

Description
A medium to tall (up to 3 m), hairy hollyhock with large, pinkish, or pale flowers (petals to 50 mm). The leaves (particularly upper ones) are distinctively divided into spreading finger-like lobes whose edges are irregular and at times sublobed, the lobes at the base of the leaf tending to point rather backward. Whilst the leaf-end lobe is larger than the others but not hugely so. The low leaves can be well-divided into fingers or just shallowly lobed.

The stem is narrow (to 12 mm) and branched only at the base.The hairs are star-like (sparse or dense). When tall, its height mostly comprises a long flower stalk with little leafage. It is found at roadsides, fields, rocky slopes, steppe, and maquis.

The epicalyx is large (>=50% calyx). The fruit segments with wingless edges, conspicuously wrinkled, pilose hairy (the sides sparsely).

Distribution
The plant's range includes Iran, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, and Turkey. In Turkey, it has been found growing at an elevation range of 20–2400 metres.

Botanical photographs
Photographs from Antalya unless indicated.