Marshmallow

Marshmallow roots are very mucilagenous and were originally cooked down to make a sugar-sweetened syrup, lozenge, or confection. Used in traditional herbal medicine to soothe and coat the throat and as a poultice to calm skin irritations. Also a beauty of a plant! Soft and hairy perennial stalks bear delicate, hollyhock-like, pale white-blue flowers with purply- red centers in late summer. All parts of the plant are edible. Attractive to pollinators.