Sidalcea asprella |
Sidalcea sparsifolia |
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dwarf checkerbloom, harsh checker mallow, harsh checkerbloom |
dwarf checkerbloom, southern 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, 0.2–0.8 m, not glaucous, with thick, fibrous caudex or taproot and short rootstocks, rhizomes developed or not, 3–5 mm diam. | ||||
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. |
1–20, clustered, erect to ascending or decumbent, usually not rooting, solid, proximally hairy, hairs simple, stellate, or mixed, 0.5–1.5 mm, distally usually stellate-hairy or glabrous. |
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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. |
mostly basal, cauline to 5, (plant sometimes scapose); stipules linear to lanceolate, 2–8 × 1–1.5 mm; petioles of basal leaves 5–10(–25) cm, often 5 times blade length, distally reduced to 1/2 times blade length; blade orbiculate to reniform, 2–6(–8) × 2–6(–8) cm, base cordate, apex rounded, surfaces stellate-hairy abaxially, moderately minutely stellate-hairy to appressed-hairy adaxially, basal leaves usually shallowly 7-lobed, sometimes unlobed and margins crenate, cauline smaller, palmately 3–5-lobed ± to base, lobe margins entire or incised. |
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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. |
usually ascending, ± open, calyces not conspicuously overlapping except sometimes in bud, branched or unbranched, 10+-flowered, most flowers spaced 1+ cm apart, elongated, extending well above leaves, narrow, often 1-sided, (15–)30–45 cm; bracts lanceolate, mostly 2-fid, proximal bracts divided ± to base, distal sometimes undivided. |
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Pedicels | 2–5(–10) mm; involucellar bractlets absent. |
2–8(–15) 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. |
bisexual or unisexual and pistillate, plants gynodioecious; calyx 6–10 mm, densely to sparsely stellate-puberulent, hairs usually longer, coarser, 2–4-rayed especially at margins and over veins; petals pinkish rose to pinkish lavender or magenta, pale-veined or not, base often white, 10–25 mm, pistillate darker, 6–15 mm, bisexual 12–25(–30) mm; staminal column 5–6 mm, puberulent; anthers white; stigmas (6 or)7–9. |
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Seeds | 1.5–2.8 mm. |
2.5 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 (6 or)7–9, 2.5–3 mm, roughened, glandular-puberulent, lightly to moderately reticulate-veined, pitted, mucro 0.5–1 mm. |
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2n | = 20, 40. |
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Sidalcea asprella |
Sidalcea sparsifolia |
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Phenology | Flowering Mar–Jun(–Sep). | |||||
Habitat | Moist, often grassy, open places, often on mesas, chaparral, pine-oak openings | |||||
Elevation | 10–2200 m [30–7200 ft] | |||||
Distribution |
CA; OR
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CA; Mexico (Baja California)
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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 sparsifolia intergrades with S. malviflora subsp. californica and S. neomexicana. None of the varieties described within S. malviflora subsp. sparsifolia is recognized here but one or more of them may merit distinction. Along with S. neomexicana, S. sparsifolia is one of the southern species of Sidalcea and one of the more tolerant of hot, dry, desert conditions. Sidalcea sparsifolia is the most common of the southern California species, occurring in the Sierra Nevada foothills and South Coast Ranges. It has been confused with S. neomexicana and with subspecies of S. malviflora. It can be distinguished from the former by its nonpustulate hairs, fibrous crown, and nonfleshy roots, and from the latter by its inland habitat, larger, ascending inflorescences, and tendency to have mostly basal leaves. (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. 354. | ||||
Parent taxa | ||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | S. malviflora subsp. asprella | S. malviflora subsp. sparsifolia, S. malviflora var. hirsuta, S. malviflora var. stellata, S. malviflora var. uliginosa | ||||
Name authority | Greene: Bull. Calif. Acad. Sci. 1: 78. (1885) | (C. L. Hitchcock) S. R. Hill: Madroño 56: 107. (2009) | ||||
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