Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Eremalche rotundifolia

Eremalche exilis

desert five-spot

white mallow
Habit Plants erect; main stem unbranched or branched from base, spotted or flushed purple-maroon, 8–30(–60) cm, sparsely or densely hairy, hairs mostly simple, bristly, to 3 mm. Plants prostrate to decumbent; stems sometimes flushed with purple-maroon, branched or unbranched, 2–40 cm, obscurely stellate-hairy.
Leaf

blades unlobed, 1.5–6 cm, margins crenate-dentate.

blades 3- or 5-cleft or -lobed to ± 1/2 to base, 1–2.5 cm wide, divisions entire or 3-toothed at tip.
Inflorescences

usually exceeding leaves.

seldom exceeding leaves, sometimes basal.
Pedicels

1.5–8 cm;

involucellar bractlets filiform, 6–10 mm.

0.2–1 cm, longer in fruit;

involucellar bractlets threadlike to linear, 3.3–5.5(–7) mm.
Flowers

calyx 9–14 mm, lobes 5.5–11 × 3.5–7 mm;

petals rose-pink to lilac, magenta-spotted at base, (15–)20–30 mm, exceeding calyx.

calyx 4–5.5(–7) mm, lobes 3–5 × 1.5–2.5 mm;

petals white or pale rose-lavender, 4–5.5 mm, equaling calyx.
Mericarps

25–36, black, waferlike edges acute, reticulate, 2.8–3.5 mm.

9–13, brownish to blackish, ± wedge-shaped, cushionlike, 1.4–1.8 mm, margins rounded, radially corrugated.
2n

= 20.

= 20, 40.

Eremalche rotundifolia

Eremalche exilis
Phenology Flowering mid winter–late spring. Flowering late winter–spring.
Habitat Dry desert scrub Sandy or rocky desert soil
Elevation ?50–1200 m [?160–3900 ft] 100–1500 m [300–4900 ft]
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; NV; UT; Mexico (Baja California, Sonora)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; CA; NV; UT; Mexico (Baja California, Sonora)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Eremalche rotundifolia is morphologically and perhaps generically distinct from the other species of Eremalche; it occurs widely in the Mojave and Sonoran deserts and in Death Valley.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Eremalche exilis occurs in the Mojave and Sonoran deserts.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 6, p. 247. Treatment authors: David M. Bates, Malvastrum A. Gray subsect. Pedunculosa A. Gray in A. Gray et al., Syn. Fl. N. Amer. 1(1, 2): 308. 1897. FNA vol. 6, p. 247.
Parent taxa Malvaceae > subfam. Malvoideae > Eremalche Malvaceae > subfam. Malvoideae > Eremalche
Sibling taxa
E. exilis, E. parryi
E. parryi, E. rotundifolia
Synonyms Malvastrum rotundifolium, Sphaeralcea rotundifolia Malvastrum exile, Sphaeralcea exilis
Name authority (A. Gray) Greene: Leafl. Bot. Observ. Crit. 1: 208. (1906) (A. Gray) Greene: Leafl. Bot. Observ. Crit. 1: 208. (1906)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers