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Malva acerifolia; photograph Daniel Cahen, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF CC BYDaniel Cahen, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF

Malva acerifolia (Cav.) Alef.

Canary tree mallow

Malvaceae · Canary Is.

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Malva acerifolia, photograph Daniel Cahen, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFMalva acerifolia, photograph Daniel Cahen, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFMalva acerifolia, photograph Daniel Cahen, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFMalva acerifolia, photograph Daniel Cahen, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFMalva acerifolia, photograph Daniel Cahen, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFMalva acerifolia, photograph Daniel Cahen, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF 24 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
13.9°C
Record low 11.6 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
23°C
Jul, Aug and Sep at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
413mm
6 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
22–49DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet winters: the rain comes November to March, read as a winter growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Malva acerifolia, also frequently known under the synonyms Lavatera acerifolia or Malva canariensis is a shrub endemic to the Canary Islands, belonging to the family Malvaceae.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Malva acerifolia", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Malva

Malva is a genus of herbaceous or woody, annual, biennial, and perennial plants in the family Malvaceae. It is one of several closely related genera in the family to bear the common English name mallow. The genus is widespread throughout the temperate, subtropical and tropical regions of Africa, Asia and Europe.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Malva", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a winter growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (307 mm of 401 mm) falls in November to March, cooler than the year (wet-season mean 16.0 °C against a yearly mean of 17.9 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: May to September.

Rain

401 mm in the median year at the habitat, 307 mm of it November to March. Wettest month December at 78 mm, driest month July at 2 mm; 3 months under 5 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 301 mm to 600 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 413 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 401 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 22 to 49 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 19, the highest 90th-percentile month 50).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 13.9 °C, the absolute minimum 11.6 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 24.8 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 13.9 °C in January and February (across the grid cells of the range 10.6 °C to 16.1 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 23.2 °C in August (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 13.9 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 60 to 63% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +200 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Malva acerifolia through the yearWarmest months July, August and September, mean daily high 23 °C; coldest months January and February, mean nightly low 13.9 °C; 401 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.5°10°15°20°25°30°24.8° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER11.6° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100125150mm rainDLI 22–49RH 60–63%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 56 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C16 / 14–1816 / 14–1817 / 15–1917 / 16–1919 / 17–2021 / 19–2223 / 21–2523 / 22–2523 / 21–2421 / 20–2319 / 17–2118 / 15–19
Night °C14 / 11–1614 / 11–1614 / 11–1615 / 12–1616 / 13–1717 / 16–1919 / 17–2120 / 18–2220 / 18–2119 / 16–2017 / 14–1915 / 12–17
Rain mm57 / 47–8059 / 50–9147 / 26–7423 / 16–359 / 5–143 / 1–72 / 0–43 / 2–613 / 6–1741 / 30–6566 / 46–9678 / 56–131
DLI24 / 21–2730 / 27–3337 / 35–4043 / 41–4547 / 46–4849 / 47–5048 / 46–4945 / 43–4639 / 37–4132 / 30–3425 / 22–2822 / 19–25
RH %60 / 57–6361 / 57–6460 / 55–6362 / 57–6562 / 57–6663 / 54–6761 / 46–6661 / 48–6763 / 54–6763 / 58–6762 / 59–6462 / 60–65
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 56 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (166 records in those cells; 1 more cell holds records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cell is left out), with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1238:3290 (28.075, -15.475). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 11.6 °C, 1st-percentile night 13.9 °C, 99th-percentile day 24.8 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 56 distinct grid cells holding 166 of the 167 in-range records (1 further cell with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1238:3290 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 28.00_-15.625, lapse-corrected +200 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 309 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeCanary Is. · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker28.392, -16.693 · in the densest population, 183 records (98% of those in range)
Kew's description“shrub” · “subtropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 186 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 166 of them in the land cells it reads, of 167 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 50 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 24 km away. 2 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 19 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 186 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Malva acerifolia, photograph 1did not loadMalva acerifolia, photograph 2did not loadMalva acerifolia, photograph 3did not loadMalva acerifolia, photograph 4did not loadMalva acerifolia, photograph 5did not loadMalva acerifolia, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: Daniel Cahen, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF (6).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Bryonia verrucosa Bryonia verrucosa Cucurbitaceae Photo: CC BY, YokkiSonchus leptocephalus Sonchus leptocephalus Asteraceae Photo: CC BY, jeanjacquesgodonMarcetella moquiniana Marcetella moquiniana Burnet tree Photo: CC BY, jeanjacquesgodonAeonium arboreum Aeonium arboreum Tree aeonium Photo: CC BY, Daniel CahenGymnosporia cassinoides Gymnosporia cassinoides Celastraceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Juan CarlosWithania aristata Withania aristata Solanaceae Photo: CC BY, jeanjacquesgodon

Other Malva 26 in the reference

Malva alcea Malva alcea Greater musk-mallow Photo: CC BY, jjfeilerMalva arborea Malva arborea Tree mallow Photo: CC BY, zebedeugalinhaMalva assurgentiflora Malva assurgentiflora Island mallow Photo: CC BY, Adam J. SearcyMalva cachemiriana Malva cachemiriana Malvaceae Photo: CC BY, UleliMalva cavanillesiana Malva cavanillesiana Malvaceae Photo: CC BY, Jacy ChenMalva × clementii Malva × clementii Malvaceae Photo: CC BY, Sean HartnettMalva excisa Malva excisa Malvaceae Photo: CC BY, Oleksandr ShynderMalva moschata Malva moschata Musk mallow Photo: CC BY, Rose ZappaMalva multiflora Malva multiflora Cretan-hollyhock Photo: CC BY, zebedeugalinhaMalva neglecta Malva neglecta Dwarf mallow Photo: CC BY, David AndersonMalva nicaeensis Malva nicaeensis French mallow Photo: CC BY, Jared ShormaMalva occidentalis Malva occidentalis Malvaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz all 27 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Althaea acerifolia; Lavatera acerifolia; Lavatera acerifolia var. hariensis; Lavatera phoenicea; Malva canariensis and 1 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFWikipedia

The record

Family
Malvaceae
Described by
(Cav.) Alef.
Native to
Canary Is.
Wild records
186 in range · 50 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 14 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (7 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 7 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 28.00_-15.625, lapse-corrected +200 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata not taken: two items answeredasked 2026-10-22not taken: two items answered to the older names' GBIF records (Q15382625, Q110123538)
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist taxon inat.taxon not asked
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild not asked
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 19 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…