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Sidalcea asprella

dwarf checkerbloom, harsh checker mallow, harsh checkerbloom

annual checkerbloom, checker mallow, vernal pool checkerbloom

Habit Herbs, perennial, 0.1–1(–1.2) m, infrequently ± glaucous, with caudex or not, usually with freely-rooting fibrous rootstocks or rhizomes (5–)10–30 cm × 2–4 mm, matted or not. Herbs, annual, rarely perennial, (0.2–)0.3–0.5(–0.9) m, not glaucous, with taproot or rhizomelike stolons to 35 blade; basal blades usually orbiculate, unlobed or slightly palmately lobed, 1–2(–10) × 2–5(–10) cm, wider than long, margins crenate, shiny; cauline blades rounded, deeply 5–9(–11)-lobed, 1–2 × 2–4 cm, lobes linear-elliptic to oblanceolate-obtuse, margins entire, ciliate, surfaces slightly hirsute.
Stems

usually single, erect and sometimes supported by adjacent plants (sprawling), base prostrate or decumbent-ascending to erect, often rooting, solid, not brittle, sometimes ± glaucous distally, proximally stellate-hairy, glabrate, hairs minute or larger and coarse (never simple only), usually 4-rayed, 0.5–1 mm.

Leaves

basal and/or cauline, similar in size and shape;

stipules linear to lanceolate, 2–3 × 1.1 mm;

petiole (1–)5–10(–15) cm, longest on proximal leaves, 1–4 times longer on proximal leaves to 1/2 times to as long as blade on distal leaves;

blade usually shallowly to deeply palmately 3–7-lobed usually halfway to base, proximal and distal cauline blades rounded to reniform, 2–3 × 2–5 cm, usually wider than long, base cordate to truncate, margins crenate, apex blunt or rounded, lobes narrowest at base, margins usually apically coarsely toothed, rarely entire, surfaces stellate-puberulent.

Inflorescences

ascending or erect, often spiciform, open, calyces not overlapping in flower or fruit, unbranched or branched, 2–15(–30)-flowered, elongate in both flower and fruit, usually 1-sided, 6–11(–30) cm;

bracts leaflike to linear, usually 2-fid, (2–)3–5(–15) mm.

erect, spicate, dense, calyces sometimes overlapping, unbranched or branched, distal stem sometimes leafless, many-flowered, not 1-sided, 2–10 cm, elongating at maturity;

bracts green or purplish, ovate to wide-elliptic, usually 2-fid, sometimes undivided, 2–6(–12) × 2–5 mm.

Pedicels

2–5(–10) mm;

involucellar bractlets absent.

(2–)4–5 mm;

involucellar bractlets absent.

Flowers

bisexual or unisexual and pistillate, plants gynodioecious;

calyx 5–12 mm, uniformly densely stellate-puberulent;

petals pink to pale purple, pale-veined, (5–)10–28 mm, pistillate flowers darker, 5–15 mm;

staminal column 4–5 mm, stellate-puberulent;

anthers white;

stigmas (6 or)7 or 8.

bisexual or infrequently unisexual and pistillate, plants gynodioecious;

calyx often purple tinted or scarious, 4–12 mm, silky strigose-bristly at base and on veins, stellate-puberulent;

petals usually pale purple or pink, rarely white, base pale or white, (9–)10–25 mm, pistillate shortest;

stamens: outer filaments connate to apex, tube funnel-like, with continuous rim to which unstalked anthers attach;

staminal column 4–9 mm, hairy in proximal 1/2;

anthers white to pale purple;

stigmas 5–9.

Seeds

1.5–2.8 mm.

2–3.5 mm.

Schizocarps

6–8 mm diam.;

mericarps (6 or)7 or 8, 3–4 mm, usually glandular-puberulent to stellate-puberulent, sometimes glabrous, roughened, strongly reticulate-veined, sides and back pitted, mucro 0.5–1 mm.

5–9 mm diam.;

mericarps 5–9, often purple tinted, 2.5–4.5 mm, glabrous, not especially roughened, sides reticulate-veined, back deeply longitudinally grooved, mucro often appressed, 0.5 mm.

Sidalcea asprella

Sidalcea calycosa

Distribution
from FNA
CA; OR
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora).

Sidalcea asprella is variable and occurs from the central Sierra Nevada to southwestern Oregon. Typical plants in the central Sierra Nevada have weak, elongated stems that are often supported by neighboring vegetation; they lack simple recurved hairs at the stem base and may have either elongated rhizomes or a caudex. It has been confused with S. celata, S. elegans, S. gigantea, and S. glaucescens; formerly it was included within S. malviflora; molecular study has shown that it is different from S. malviflora. It belongs to a group including S. celata, S. elegans, S. gigantea, and S. hirtipes (K. Andreasen and B. G. Baldwin 2003).

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

Sidalcea calycosa is variable and found locally in marshes and vernal pools in northern California. The annual, short-taprooted, subsp. calycosa varies in height and branching and is consistent in other vegetative and reproductive features. The perennial subsp. rhizomata has elongated, amphibious stolons somewhat like those of the fern Marsilea and is found in marshes near the coast. It and subsp. calycosa have the same fragile nature and similar morphology, and their distinctive fruits are essentially indistinguishable, having the only multifurrowed or striate surfaces in Sidalcea. Because S. calycosa is not at all fibrous and tough like the other perennials, it is keyed with the annuals.

Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora).

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

Key
1. Plants (0.3–)0.5–1(–1.2) m, with caudex or usually compact rootstocks or rhizomes to 10(–30) cm × 4 mm; leaves mostly cauline; inflorescences 8–15 (–30)-flowered, erect; stems erect, sometimes weak and supported by other vegetation, sometimes proximally decumbent.
subsp. asprella
1. Plants 0.1–0.3(–0.4) m, with rhizomes 5–20 cm × 2(–3) mm; leaves mostly basal; inflorescences usually 2–10(–19)-flowered, ascending; stems decumbent-ascending to erect, sometimes proximally prostrate.
subsp. nana
1. Plants annual, with taproot, stem base rarely decumbent, rooting; bracts 2–6 mm, not obscuring calyx, glabrous or ciliate; calyces 4–7 mm; petals (9–)10–25 mm; relatively widespread in n, c California.
subsp. calycosa
1. Plants perennial, with rhizomelike stolons rooting at nodes; bracts 8–12 mm, mostly obscuring calyx, silky-hairy; calyces 6–12 mm; petals 20–25 mm; restricted to n, c coastal California.
subsp. rhizomata
Source FNA vol. 6, p. 325. Treatment author: Steven R. Hill. FNA vol. 6, p. 326. Treatment author: Steven R. Hill.
Parent taxa Malvaceae > subfam. Malvoideae > Sidalcea Malvaceae > subfam. Malvoideae > Sidalcea
Sibling taxa
S. calycosa, S. campestris, S. candida, S. celata, S. covillei, S. cusickii, S. diploscypha, S. elegans, S. gigantea, S. glaucescens, S. hartwegii, S. hendersonii, S. hickmanii, S. hirsuta, S. hirtipes, S. keckii, S. malachroides, S. malviflora, S. multifida, S. nelsoniana, S. neomexicana, S. oregana, S. pedata, S. ranunculacea, S. reptans, S. robusta, S. setosa, S. sparsifolia, S. stipularis, S. virgata
S. asprella, S. campestris, S. candida, S. celata, S. covillei, S. cusickii, S. diploscypha, S. elegans, S. gigantea, S. glaucescens, S. hartwegii, S. hendersonii, S. hickmanii, S. hirsuta, S. hirtipes, S. keckii, S. malachroides, S. malviflora, S. multifida, S. nelsoniana, S. neomexicana, S. oregana, S. pedata, S. ranunculacea, S. reptans, S. robusta, S. setosa, S. sparsifolia, S. stipularis, S. virgata
Subordinate taxa
S. asprella subsp. asprella, S. asprella subsp. nana
S. calycosa subsp. calycosa, S. calycosa subsp. rhizomata
Synonyms S. malviflora subsp. asprella
Name authority Greene: Bull. Calif. Acad. Sci. 1: 78. (1885) M. E. Jones: Amer. Naturalist 17: 875. (1883)
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