John Starnes' Urban Farm: The transplanted "Vegetable Mallow" (Malva verticillata var. crispa) plants are growing rapidly after a deep watering and that rainy spell that gave me 7.5 inches....definitely a thirsty crop. Based on how they grow this summer, in the future I might grow them only in Water Wise Container Gardens. Raw, the leaves are VERY mild and tender, slightly crisp....I suspect that cooked they would be slightly mucilaginous. In Denver the edible and related M. sylvestris and M. neglectus self sowed like CRAZY....I will be curious if this does too. I need to confirm my hunch that the mucilage is protein-based..... Nope....the mucilage is based on polysaccharides. dang!