Sidalcea asprella |
Sidalcea malachroides |
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dwarf checkerbloom, harsh checker mallow, harsh checkerbloom |
maple-leaf checkerbloom, maple-leaf sidalcea |
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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, or subshrubs, (0.4–)0.8–1.5(–2) m, not glaucous, with thick, rather woody caudex or taproot, 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. |
clustered, erect, solid, bristly-hirsute, hairs simple, forked, and stellate. |
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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, similar in size and shape; stipules linear-lanceolate, 5–15 × 0.5 mm; petioles 4–7 cm on distal leaves, 1/2 times to as long as blades, longer on proximal leaves; blade maplelike, usually palmately (3–)5–7- 7–15 mm, pistillate 6–7 mm, bisexual or staminate 10–12 mm; staminal column 5–7 mm, hairy; anthers white to pale purplish or pale yellowish; stigmas 5–9. |
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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. |
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Pedicels | 2–5(–10) mm; involucellar bractlets absent. |
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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. |
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Seeds | 1.5–2.8 mm. |
1–1.5 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. |
5–6 mm diam.; mericarps 5–9, 2.5 mm, glabrous or sparsely stellate-hairy, margins rounded, back ridged, sides smooth or with slight corrugations near margins, not pitted, mucro absent. |
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2n | = 20. |
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Sidalcea asprella |
Sidalcea malachroides |
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Phenology | Flowering May–Jul(–Aug). | |||||
Habitat | Woodlands, redwood forests, moist clearings near coast | |||||
Elevation | 20–700 m [70–2300 ft] | |||||
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 malachroides has long been considered to be the basal or so-called most ancient extant species of Sidalcea based on its morphology (E. M. F. Roush 1931; C. L. Hitchcock 1957). Molecular data support this conclusion (K. Andreasen and B. G. Baldwin 2001, 2003). These robust plants are distinguished by maplelike leaves that vary little in size and shape from base to apex of the stem, by relatively numerous, relatively small flowers with white or pale pink petals in dense, spiciform clusters on branched inflorescences, and by the coastal habitat. Formerly, it occurred in widely scattered sites from Monterey County, California, to Curry County, Oregon; fewer populations are extant; it has sometimes been cultivated. It is usually found in clearings and disturbed areas; it is threatened by logging and associated road usage, development, and non-native plant competition. (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. 340. | ||||
Parent taxa | ||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | S. malviflora subsp. asprella | Malva malachroides, Hesperalcea malachroides, S. vitifolia | ||||
Name authority | Greene: Bull. Calif. Acad. Sci. 1: 78. (1885) | (Hooker & Arnott) A. Gray: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 7: 332. (1868) | ||||
Web links |