Sidalcea campestris |
Sidalcea ranunculacea |
|
|---|---|---|
|
meadow checker-mallow, meadow checkerbloom, meadow sidalcea |
Big Tree checkerbloom, marsh checker mallow, marsh checkerbloom |
|
| Habit | Herbs, perennial, 0.5–2 m, sometimes glaucous in age, with thick, rather woody taproot and short rhizomes usually to 10 cm × 10 mm. | Herbs, perennial, 0.2–0.5 m, not glaucous or stems sometimes glaucous, with taproot from branched crown, usually wide-spreading and clonal from elongated, horizontal, freely-rooting rhizomes or elongated horizontal stem bases, 2–5 mm diam. |
| Stems | single or clustered, erect, base often decumbent-ascending, solid (proximally hollow on older stems), proximally densely bristly-hirsute, hairs simple or forked, 0.5–1 mm, sometimes mixed with minute, stellate hairs, sometimes glabrous and glaucous in age, hairs usually more appressed, simple, stellate, or sparse distally. |
usually scattered, ascending to erect, solid, sometimes glaucous, proximally usually long bristly-hirsute, hairs simple or few stellate, rarely glabrous, distally stellate-hairy. |
| Leaves | mostly cauline; stipules lanceolate, 4–11 × 1–1.5 mm; petioles of proximal leaves 15–20 cm, 2–3 times as long as blades, distal reduced to 0.5–10 cm, 1/2 times to as long as blades; blade 10–15 × 10–15 cm, smaller distally, surfaces scabrid-hairy, hairs dense, simple or stellate, stiff, stellate hairs mostly on adaxial surfaces, proximal blades orbiculate, shallowly to deeply palmately 7–9-lobed, 5–15 × 5–15 cm, base cordate, margins coarsely crenate-serrate, lobes apically 2–5-toothed; distal cauline leaves variable, mid blades usually palmately divided nearly to base into 5–7 cuneate lobes, 15 × 15 cm, lobes deeply cut to laciniately dissected, distal blades divided into (3–)5–7 linear, marginally subentire segments, surfaces glabrescent or with few hairs on abaxial surface veins, ciliate. |
mostly cauline (on reproductive stems), basal present mostly when stems young; stipules lanceolate to ovate, (3–)4–5 × 0.8–3 mm; proximal petioles 7–12 cm, 3–4 times blade length, distal usually 1/2–1 times blade length; blade often grayish green, reniform or reniform-orbiculate, 2.5–6 × 2.5–6 cm, base wide-cordate, margins ciliate, apex rounded overall (lobes can be acute), surfaces softly stellate-hairy to silky villous-hirsute; basal shallowly, palmately 5-lobed, lobe not 1-sided, 3–8 cm, elongating in fruit; bracts linear, unlobed or infrequently 2-fid, 2–5 mm, subequal to or longer than pedicels, much shorter than calyx. |
| Inflorescences | erect, open, spiciform, calyces not conspicuously overlapping except sometimes in bud, often branched from distal leaves, 15+-flowered, elongate, not 1-sided, 10–35 cm, proximal flowers spaced several cm apart, not leafy-bracted; bracts linear, distal undivided or 2-fid, proximal separate to base, 4–10 mm, usually equaling or longer than pedicels. |
|
| Pedicels | 3–6(–20) mm; involucellar bractlets absent. |
1–3(–5) mm; involucellar bractlets absent. |
| Flowers | bisexual or unisexual and pistillate, plants gynodioecious; calyx 5–9 mm, pistillate 5–7 mm, bisexual 6–9 mm, 8–10 mm in fruit, uniformly, densely stellate-hairy or with coarser, longer, stellate hairs to 2 mm; petals usually not overlapping, nearly white to pale pink or pale lavender, pistillate 9–12 mm, bisexual 13–25 mm; staminal column 5–7 mm, hairy; anthers white to pale pink; stigmas (6 or)7 or 8. |
bisexual or unisexual and pistillate, plants gynodioecious; calyx 5–9 mm, stellate-puberulent and softly long-hirsute with marginal bristles 1.5 mm; petals magenta-pink, drying dark purple, sometimes pale-veined, 5–15 mm, pistillate darker, 5 mm; staminal column 3–6 mm, hairy; anthers white; stigmas 6–8. |
| Seeds | 2.5 mm. |
1.5–2 mm. |
| Schizocarps | 7–8 mm diam.; mericarps (6 or)7 or 8, 3.5 mm, roughened, sides prominently reticulate-rugose and pitted, back less so and glandular-puberulent, mucro 0.5–1 mm. |
4–5 mm diam.; mericarps 6–8, 2.5 mm, glabrous or sparsely stellate-puberulent, sides slightly reticulate-veined, back rougher, pitted, mucro 0.5 mm. |
| 2n | = 60. |
= 20. |
Sidalcea campestris |
Sidalcea ranunculacea |
|
| Phenology | Flowering May–Aug. | Flowering Jun–Aug. |
| Habitat | Open shrublands, meadows, hedgerows, prairies | Moist meadows, stream banks |
| Elevation | 40–200 m [130–700 ft] | 1800–2800(–3100) m [5900–9200(–10200) ft] |
| Distribution |
OR
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CA
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| Discussion | Sidalcea campestris is one of the taller species of Sidalcea and can be distinguished also by its range, hirsute indument, long inflorescences with spaced, long-stalked flowers, narrow very pale petals, and deeply incised pinnatifid stem leaves. It has been confused with S. hirtipes, S. nelsoniana, and S. oregana; it differs especially in characters of rhizomes, inflorescences, and leaves. It is a candidate for listing as threatened or endangered in Oregon. Specimens from British Columbia and Washington identified as S. campestris are either S. campestris escaped from cultivation or S. hendersonii. It is known as a native only from the Willamette Valley area (Multnomah and Washington to Benton and Linn counties). Apparently, it was introduced near Seattle, Washington; it may not persist there. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Sidalcea ranunculacea is uncommon and generally found in the vicinity of Sequoiadendron, hence the common name, in the Greenhorn Mountains of Kern and Tulare counties. The interrupted inflorescences, with as much as 5–15 cm of exposed rachis between flower clusters in well-developed individuals, are distinctive, as are the slender rhizomes and relatively small flowers. In some respects it resembles S. reptans, which is more widely ranging in similar habitats and also has long bristles at the base of its stems and slender rhizomes. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
| Parent taxa | ||
| Sibling taxa | ||
| Synonyms | S. asplenifolia, S. sylvestris | S. interrupta, S. reptans var. ranunculacea, S. spicata var. ranunculacea |
| Name authority | Greene: Bull. Calif. Acad. Sci. 1: 76. (1885) | Greene: Leafl. Bot. Observ. Crit. 1: 75. (1904) |
| Source | FNA vol. 6, p. 328. | FNA vol. 6, p. 352. |
| Web links | ||