Sidalcea asprella |
Sidalcea hickmanii |
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dwarf checkerbloom, harsh checker mallow, harsh checkerbloom |
chaparral checkerbloom, Hickman's checkerbloom |
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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, perennial, 0.1–0.8 m, not glaucous, with thick, woody taproot or caudex, without rhizomes. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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. |
several to many (ca. 3–20+), clustered, erect to ascending, branched or unbranched, solid, usually densely stellate-canescent. |
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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. |
cauline, evenly arrayed on stem, usually similar in size, shape; stipules linear-lanceolate to ovate, 2–9 × 1–3 mm, widest above base, width sometimes exceeding stem diam.; petiole 0.6–3(–9) cm, 1/2–3 times as long as blade, apex often with pulvinus; blade orbiculate or reniform to flabelliform, unlobed and margins coarsely crenate to shallowly or deeply lobed, 1–7 × 1–7 cm, usually wider than long, base truncate or cordate, apex rounded, surfaces stellate-hairy. |
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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, infrequently ascending, usually spiciform, dense or open, calyces overlapping or not, branched or unbranched, 2–20+-flowered, proximal flowers scattered, usually more congested distally, not notably elongate in flower, not 1-sided, (1.5–)3–25 cm, usually longer in fruit; bracts linear to ovate-lanceolate or oblong, undivided, 2-fid, or divided, 2–8(–12) mm, not involucrelike, distal entire to 2-fid, stipulelike, proximalmost not involucrelike, divided to base, much shorter than to nearly equaling calyx. |
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Pedicels | 2–5(–10) mm; involucellar bractlets absent. |
1–4(–5) mm; involucellar bractlets (2 or)3, 2–10 mm, shorter to slightly longer than calyx. |
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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. |
usually bisexual, infrequently unisexual and pistillate; calyx 4–12 mm, densely to sparsely stellate-puberulent to long-bristly; petals usually pale pink to pink-lavender, rarely white, veins not conspicuously whitened, 5–17 mm; staminal column 4–7 mm, hairy; anthers white to pale pinkish or pale yellow; stigmas (4–)6 or 7(–10). |
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Seeds | 1.5–2.8 mm. |
1–2 mm. |
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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. |
4–7 mm diam.; mericarps usually (4–)6 or 7(–10), (1.5–)2–2.5 mm, glabrous, sides usually smooth, thin, margins and back usually lightly reticulate-veined, transversely corrugated, back usually with medial, raised line, not pitted, mucro absent. |
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Sidalcea asprella |
Sidalcea hickmanii |
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Distribution |
CA; OR
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CA; OR
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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 hickmanii is found in isolated populations from southern California to southwestern Oregon and appears to have a relict distribution. K. Andreasen and B. G. Baldwin (2001, 2003) suggested that it is basal within Sidalcea. It is distinctive in having three (normally two in subsp. petraea) involucellar bractlets attached to the calyx, no mucro on the mericarps, and leaves that are almost the same size and shape throughout the stem. Each subspecies apparently represents a distinct relictual colony; the sexuality of these is not well known because of the paucity of specimens. As in many sidalceas, this species in particular appears to be fire-dependent. Subspecies 7 (7 in the flora). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 6, p. 325. | FNA vol. 6, p. 334. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Synonyms | S. malviflora subsp. asprella | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Name authority | Greene: Bull. Calif. Acad. Sci. 1: 78. (1885) | Greene: Pittonia 1: 139. (1887) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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