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cheeseweed, alkali mallow, small-whorl mallow

musk mallow

Habit Prostrate or spreading, annual or biennial herbs, the stems 2-6 dm. long, puberulent. Perennial herb, glabrous or with purple-based hairs, the stems 3-6 dm. tall.
Leaves

Leaves palmately veined, with petioles up to twice as long as the blades;

leaf blades cordate-reniform, 2-5 cm. long and slightly broader, shallowly 5-7 lobed, with fine teeth.

Leaves palmately veined, long-petiolate, with stipules 4-7 mm. long, oblong;

blades of the basal leaves cordate-reniform, shallowly lobed or with rounded teeth;

blades of the upper cauline leaves cleft to the base into 5 lobes, and these dissected into linear segments.

Flowers

Flowers in small clusters in the leaf axils, on long pedicels to sessile, white to pale lavender;

calyx shallowly 5-lobed, about equaling the corolla;

petals 5, clawed;

filaments fused into a tube, the stamens freed from the tube single or in pairs;

style branches stigmatic most of their length, not capitate;

ovary superior, the carpels in a ring around a central axis.

Flowers usually single in the leaf axils, white to deep pink, 4-5 cm. broad;

calyx deeply divided, with 5 narrow sepals and 3 bracteoles, petals 5, obcordate, with a wedge-shaped base;

filaments fused into a tube, the stamens freed from the tube single or in pairs;

style branches 10-15, equal in number to the carpels, stigmatic most of their length, not capitate;

ovary superior, the carpels in a ring around a central axis.

Fruits

Carpels flattened and strongly cross-corrugated on the back.

Carpels densely hairy on the back, separating at maturity.

Malva parviflora

Malva moschata

Flowering time March-August May-July
Habitat Roadsides, forest edge, fields, ditches, wastelots, and other disturbed open areas. Roadsides, fields, and wastelots, where escaping from cultivation.
Distribution
Occurring west of the Cascades crest in lowland western Washington; British Columbia to California, east to the Great Plains, also in southeastern and northeastern North America.
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Occurring west of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to California, east to Montana and Wyoming, also in eastern North America.
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Origin Introduced from Eurpoe Introduced from Europe
Conservation status Not of concern Not of concern
Sibling taxa
M. moschata, M. neglecta, M. pusilla, M. sylvestris
M. neglecta, M. parviflora, M. pusilla, M. sylvestris
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