Sidalcea campestris |
Sidalcea stipularis |
|
|---|---|---|
|
meadow checker-mallow, meadow checkerbloom, meadow sidalcea |
scadden flat 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, 0.3–0.7 m, not glaucous, with slender, elongated rhizomes to 1 cm 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. |
single or in dense patches, erect, solid, hairy, hairs simple, spreading, bristly. |
| 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. |
cauline, evenly arrayed on stem; stipules asymmetric-ovate and auriculate, 10–20 × 10–20 mm, width exceeding stem diam.; petioles of proximal leaves 7–10 cm, gradually reduced distally to 2 cm, 1–1 1/2 times blade length proximally to 1/2 blade length distally; blade ovate to elliptic, unlobed, usually (4–)7–8 × (2.5–)4–5 cm, reduced distally, base cordate, margins crenate-serrate, apex acute to rounded, surfaces glabrous abaxially, sparsely hirsute adaxially. |
| 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. |
erect, capitate, ± dense, calyces overlapping, unbranched, 2–10-flowered, not elongate, not 1-sided, 3–5 cm; proximalmost bracts involucrelike, similar to stipules in size and shape, narrowed to linear distally, usually divided to base, 10–20 mm, longer than pedicels, equaling or slightly shorter than calyx. |
| Pedicels | 3–6(–20) mm; involucellar bractlets absent. |
1–2 mm; involucellar bractlets 3, 8–12 mm, equaling or longer than calyx. |
| 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; calyx 8 mm, sparsely to densely bristly, sometimes also stellate-hairy; petals pink, usually pale-veined, 15 mm; staminal column 4–6 mm, hairy; anthers white; stigmas 7 or 8. |
| Seeds | 2.5 mm. |
1.9 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 7 or 8, 2 mm, glabrous, smooth, back with medial line, mucro absent. |
| 2n | = 60. |
|
Sidalcea campestris |
Sidalcea stipularis |
|
| Phenology | Flowering May–Aug. | Flowering Jun–Aug. |
| Habitat | Open shrublands, meadows, hedgerows, prairies | Marshes |
| Elevation | 40–200 m [130–700 ft] | 700 m [2300 ft] |
| Distribution |
OR
|
CA |
| 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.) |
Of conservation concern. Sidalcea stipularis is the most distinctive and easily recognized species of Sidalcea; it is also among the rarest. It is listed as endangered in California. The ovate unlobed leaves are found in no other Sidalcea species. The relatively large stipules, bracts, and involucellar bractlets are also unique in Sidalcea, making the inflorescence appear involucrate. Studies by K. Andreasen and B. G. Baldwin (2001, 2003) suggested that it is one of the basal species within Sidalcea, and it has probably been long isolated. Sidalcea stipularis is known from the northern Sierra Nevada foothills in Nevada County. Sidalcea stipularis is in the Center for Plant Conservation’s National Collection of Endangered Plants. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
| Parent taxa | ||
| Sibling taxa | ||
| Synonyms | S. asplenifolia, S. sylvestris | |
| Name authority | Greene: Bull. Calif. Acad. Sci. 1: 76. (1885) | J. T. Howell & G. H. True: Four Seasons 4(4): 20, fig. 16. (1974) |
| Source | FNA vol. 6, p. 328. | FNA vol. 6, p. 355. |
| Web links | ||