What’s the origin of the hollyhock?
I consulted The Gardener’s Atlas by John Grimshaw (Firefly Books, 1998) and in the section on mallows, Alcea rosea (garden hollyhock) is described as “indigenous to the Near East.” It was initially grown to be used for its fiber, like fellow Malvaceae family member Gossypium (cotton), but it didn’t work well for that purpose, and has been used as an ornamental plant in Europe since the Middle Ages. Its seeds may have been taken to northern and western Europe by returning Crusader soldiers. “The soldiers added ‘holy’ to hoc, the Anglo-Saxon word for a mallow.” All the doubles and strains with variegated flowers were cultivated in European gardens. There is a smaller species, Alcea rugosa, which is native to the Ukrainian steppes.