a tall widely cultivated malvaceous plant, Althaea rosea, with stout hairy stems and spikes of white, yellow, red, or purple flowers
Also called (US): rose mallow
Word origin
C16: from holy + hock, from Old English hoc mallow
hollyhock in American English
(ˈhɑliˌhɑk)
noun
1.
a tall, usually biennial plant (Alcea rosea) of the mallow family, with palmately lobed leaves, a hairy stem, and large, showy flowers of various colors in elongated spikes