Malva parviflora is an annual or perennial herb that is native to Northern Africa, Southern Europe, and Western and Central Asia and is widely naturalized elsewhere.

True leaves are round and weakly lobed with wavy, shallow-toothed edges and a red spot at the leaf base.

[8] Malva parviflora was described by Carl Linnaeus and published in Demonstrationes Plantarum in Horto Upsaliensi MDCCLIII on October 3, 1753.

[7] Its native range extends from the Mediterranean, through West Asia, and to Central Asia and can be found in Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Kuwait, Afghanistan, Cyprus, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece, Croatia, Italy, Malta, Spain, France, and Portugal.

[15] In nitrogen-rich soils,[14] the plant's leaves and seeds can be toxic to cattle and poultry due to an accumulation of nitrates.

[7] If consumed in large amounts, the plant can damage energy homeostasis in horses, possibly due to its cyclopropene fatty acids.

[8] In Mexico, M. parviflora is consumed as a quelite and used in traditional medicine to treat wounds and problems with digestion.

[16] In the 20th century, naturalist Alfonso Herrera Fernández [es] noted that the dried leaves were used in moisturizing poultices and that the flowers were used in infusions to induce perspiration.