Malacothamnus aboriginum
Malacothamnus fasciculatus
gray bushmallow, Indian Valley bush-mallow
chaparral bush mallow, chaparral mallow, Mendocino bushmallow
blades ovate, broadly ovate, or round, 3- or 5-lobed, 4–7(–12) cm, thin or thick, surfaces: sparsely to densely grayish- to tawny-short-stellate-hairy, basal sinus open, not overlapping.
blades ovate, broadly ovate, or round, unlobed or 3-, 5-, or 7-lobed, 2–6(–11) cm, usually thin, surfaces: adaxial gray-green and sparsely hairy, basal lobes not overlapping.
interrupted, spicate or racemose, flower clusters sessile or subsessile, subtended by conspicuous bracts, usually densely flowered, usually 10 flowers per node;
involucellar bractlets distinct or basally connate, subcordate, narrow-elliptic, or ± round, 6–15 × (1–)3–9 mm, 2/3 to exceeding calyx length.
cymose, spicate, racemose, or open-paniculate, flower clusters subsessile to pedunculate, usually many-flowered, glomerate to loose;
involucellar bractlets subulate to linear, 1–6(–8) × to 1 mm, usually less than 1/2 (–2/3) calyx length.
calyx strongly plicate, angled or winged in bud, 8–17 mm, lobes subcordate, ovate, or ± round, 5–11 × 3.5–10 mm, slightly longer than broad, ca. 2 times tube length, apex abruptly acuminate, stellate-hairy, hairs many-armed;
petals pale pink to rose, 1–2 cm.
calyx campanulate, 4–9(–11) mm, lobes triangular to ovate, 1.8–6(–8) × 1.5–3(–4) mm, usually slightly longer than wide, slightly longer than tube, apex acute to short-acuminate, densely stellate-hairy, hairs usually 10–30-armed, arms 0.2–1.5 mm;
petals pale pink to mauve, to 2 cm.
2.5–3.5 mm.
2–3.5(–4.5) mm.
= 34.
= 34.
Malacothamnus aboriginum
Malacothamnus fasciculatus
Malacothamnus aboriginum occurs principally in the central inner Coast Ranges and in the Laguna Mountains in San Diego County. There, plants have involucellar bractlets about 1 mm wide but otherwise appear to be M. aboriginum; these have sometimes been assigned to M. densiflorus. The character of the often connate, wide involucellar bractlets is distinctive of M. aboriginum.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Malacothamnus fasciculatus occurs principally in the Coast and Transverse ranges. It recently was found in natural Sonora Desert scrub in Maricopa County, Arizona (S. Hunkins 2012). Whether introduced or native is not known; its presence supports the nativity of collections made by Thurber in Sonora in the early 1850s. In southern California, some variants have been recognized infraspecifically: var. laxiflorus, with open-paniculate inflorescences, occurs essentially through the range of the species except in the coastal Peninsula Ranges; var. nuttallii, robust plants with paniculate inflorescences, often densely white-hairy adaxial leaf surfaces, and floral and carpel measurements in the upper ranges, occurs in the Transverse Ranges of Santa Barbara and Ventura counties; var. nesioticus, presumably with fastigiate inflorescence branches, but essentially the same as var. nuttallii, occurs on Santa Cruz Island; var. catalinensis, robust plants with spicate to narrowly paniculate inflorescences, occurs only on Santa Catalina Island. In northern California, populations generally have floral measurements in the lower range, although in the Santa Cruz Mountains plants sometimes have involucellar bractlets in the upper range. Otherwise, populations vary in patterns similar to those of southern California. Malacothamnus fasciculatus intergrades with M. davidsonii and M. fremontii in the Transverse Ranges and M. densiflorus in the Peninsula Ranges.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
CA
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
