# Is a Zebrina a Shrub or a Tree?
The Zebrina -- commonly called the zebra hollyhock, zebra tall mallow or Zebrina tall mallow -- has tall upright stems and pink hibiscus-like flowers with red-violet stripes. A cultivar of Malva sylvestris, this shrub grows as a perennial, sending up wood-like stems each summer but dying back after fall frost.
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Size
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The longer the frost-free growing season, the larger and taller a Zebrina tall mallow potentially becomes. Stems form upright or leaning and sprawling upward to heights between 4 and 7 feet, and the shrubby perennial grows 2 to 5 feet wide, according to the Learn2Grow plant database.
Features
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This plant lives about two to four years. It grows roots and leaves the first year after germinating from seed and then flowers heavily in the second year's summer. The flowers produce lots of seeds, so replacement plants are easy to find on the ground around the mother plant to grow or transplant elsewhere.
Concerns
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The tendency of mass production and wind-scattering of seeds causes some gardeners to consider the Zebrina tall mallow an invasive weed. To limit seedlings in the landscape, promptly cut off old flowers so seeds don't form, or pull up or hoe seedlings when they're small.
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