Description

Musk mallow also called Bamia Moschata, Galu Gasturi, muskdana, musk okra, ornamental okra, rose mallow, tropical jewel hibiscus is an aromatic and medicinal plant in the family Malvaceae native to Asia and Australia.

Characteristics:

Musk Mallow is a herb or undershrub, erect 0.5-3 m tall. Stem is simple and retrorse hairy, bristly to prickly. Leaves are 6-30 cm long and broad, round or broadly ovate, heart-shaped at base, not or 3-7 lobed or parted, bristly on both sides; lobes deltoid to oblong-lanceshaped, sawtoothed to toothed or rounded toothed or rarely entire; stipules linear or thread-like, 6-12 mm long, simple hairy; leaf-stalk 2-30 cm long, bristly. Flowers arise in leaf-axils, solitary, flower-stalk 2-8 cm long, in fruit up to 19 cm. False sepals are 6-10, 8-20 mm long, 1-2.5 mm broad, appressed, linear to lanceshaped. Sepal-cup 2-3.5 cm long. Flower 10 cm across, yellow with a deep purple spot at the base; petals 7-9 cm long, 2-5.5 cm broad, fringed with hairs at base. Staminal tube 1.5-2 cm long. Capsule 5-8 cm long, 2-3.5 cm across, ovoid to spindle-shaped, densely simple hairy, usually bristly. Seeds 3-4 mm across, ovoid-kidney-shaped, usually hairless or rarely star-shaped velvet-hairy, black.

Medicinal Uses:

Different parts of the plant have uses in Ayurveda herbal medicine. Musk Mallow is used as an antidote for snakebites. An emulsion from the seeds is considered to be anti-spasmodic and is used externally. Extensively used as an insecticide and a aphrodisiac. The oil of the seeds, with a strong musk odor, are also used in the perfume industry (now largely replaced by synthetic musk oils) and is used to flavor coffee.