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Jones' bush-mallow, San Luis obispo or Jones' bushmallow, slender bushmallow

chaparral bush mallow, chaparral mallow, Mendocino bushmallow

Habit Shrubs, 1–2.5 m, branches slender, flexuous, indument white, usually velvety, not shaggy, stellate hairs stalked, sometimes sublepidote, ca. 10–30-armed, glandular hairs often abundant. Shrubs, 1–3(–5) m; branches usually slender; indument white to tawny, sparse to dense, stellate hairs sessile or stalked, 10–30-armed, arms 0.2–1.5 mm.
Leaf

blades ash green, ovate, ± rhombic, or suborbiculate, unlobed or 3- or 5-lobed, 2.5–4.5(–7) cm, thin to thick, surfaces: soft tomentose-white, adaxial pale ash green, white-velvety, 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.

Inflorescences

open-paniculate or subracemose, flower clusters pedunculate, loose, 3(–6)-flowered, or solitary flowers;

involucellar bractlets awl-shaped to filiform, 2.5–7(–8) × 1 mm, 1/3–1/2(–2/3) 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.

Flowers

calyx campanulate, not angled in bud, 5–9(–10) mm, lobes distinct in bud, narrowly triangular or deltate-lanceolate, 3–6(–7.5) × 1.5–3(–4) mm, length 2 times width, equaling to 3 times tube length, apex acute to short-acuminate, usually sublepidote to tomentose, hairs 10–30-armed, sometimes densely lanate;

petals pale pink, to 1 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.

Mericarps

2.5–3.8 mm.

2–3.5(–4.5) mm.

2n

= 34.

= 34.

Malacothamnus jonesii

Malacothamnus fasciculatus

Phenology Flowering late Apr–Jun. Flowering Apr–Jul.
Habitat Open chaparral, foothill woodlands Coastal sage scrub, chaparral
Elevation 200–900 m (700–3000 ft) 10–600(–2500) m (0–2000(–8200) ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; Mexico (Baja California, Sonora)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Malacothamnus jonesii is known from the central Coast Ranges.

(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.)

Source FNA vol. 6, p. 284. FNA vol. 6, p. 282.
Parent taxa Malvaceae > subfam. Malvoideae > Malacothamnus Malvaceae > subfam. Malvoideae > Malacothamnus
Sibling taxa
M. abbottii, M. aboriginum, M. clementinus, M. davidsonii, M. densiflorus, M. fasciculatus, M. fremontii, M. marrubioides, M. palmeri
M. abbottii, M. aboriginum, M. clementinus, M. davidsonii, M. densiflorus, M. fremontii, M. jonesii, M. marrubioides, M. palmeri
Synonyms Malvastrum jonesii, M. gracilis, M. niveus, Malvastrum fremontii var. niveum, M. gracile, M. niveum Malva fasciculata, M. arcuatus, M. fasciculatus subsp. catalinensis, M. fasciculatus var. catalinensis, M. fasciculatus var. laxiflorus, M. fasciculatus var. nesioticus, M. fasciculatus var. nuttallii, M. hallii, M. mendocinensis, M. nesioticus, M. nuttallii, M. parishii, Malvastrum arcuatum, M. catalinense, M. fasciculatum, M. fasciculatum var. laxiflorum, M. hallii, M. laxiflorum, M. mendocinense, M. nesioticum, M. nesioticum subsp. nuttallii, M. nuttallii, M. parishii, Sphaeralcea arcuata, S. nesiotica
Name authority (Munz) Kearney: Leafl. W. Bot. 6: 135. (1951) (Nuttall ex Torrey & A. Gray) Greene: Leafl. Bot. Observ. Crit. 1: 208. (1906)
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