Sidalcea neomexicana |
Sidalcea candida |
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mountain sidalcea, New Mexico checkerbloom, New Mexico checkermallow, New Mexico or salt-spring checkerbloom, Rocky Mountain checkerbloom, salt spring checkerbloom |
white checkerbloom, white checkermallow |
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Habit | Herbs, perennial, 0.2–0.8(–1.2) m, glaucous or not, with thick, fleshy, tuberous or fibrous taproot and other roots clustered, fleshy, without caudex and rhizomes. | Herbs, perennial, 0.3–1 m, ± glaucous, with rhizomes wide-spreading, compact to elongate, 5 mm diam. |
Stems | 1–several, clustered, erect or ascending from slightly decumbent base, unbranched or branched, solid, infrequently hollow in robust plants, sometimes glaucous, proximally usually coarsely, densely to moderately bristly-hirsute, hairs often pustulose to sparsely stellate-hairy, sometimes glabrous, distally usually minutely puberulent or glabrous. |
single, clustered in older plants, erect, sometimes branched distally, solid, glabrous or moderately hirsute, hairs retrorse, simple proximally, becoming ± finely stellate-hairy distally. |
Leaves | basal and cauline, cauline 3+; stipules linear to wide-lanceolate, 4–8 × 1–2 mm; petioles of proximalmost leaves 10–25 cm, reduced distally to shorter than blade, to 5 times blade length; blade fleshy, margins often short-ciliate, surfaces sparsely hairy, less so adaxially, hairs simple-hirsute to stellate, appressed, basal orbiculate, unlobed, margins crenate, or shallowly 5–7(–9)-lobed, (1.5–) 2–6(–8) × (1.5–)2–6(–8) cm, base cordate, apex rounded, lobes with margins crenate to dentate, apex acute, distal cauline highly reduced or not, deeply, palmately (3–)5–7(–9)-lobed, smaller, ultimate divisions linear, margins entire. |
basal and mostly cauline, not evenly arrayed; stipules deciduous, ovate, 10 × 2–2.5 mm; petiole (4–)6–18 cm, usually 1/2 times to as long as blade; petals often not overlapping, white to pale pinkish, drying yellowish, 10–20 mm; staminal column 6–9 mm, hairy; anthers bluish pink; stigmas 6–9. |
Inflorescences | erect to ascending, open or dense, calyces not conspicuously overlapping except sometimes in bud, unbranched or branched, 20+-flowered, proximal flowers spaced 1+ cm apart, elongate, sometimes 1-sided, 10–25 cm, elongating in fruit; bracts linear to lanceolate, undivided or deeply 2-fid, 4–10 mm, usually equaling or longer than pedicels. |
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Pedicels | 5–8(–40) mm, equaling to much longer than calyx in fruit; involucellar bractlets absent. |
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Flowers | bisexual or, less frequently, unisexual and pistillate, plants gynodioecious; calyx 5–8(–10) mm, often accrescent, sparsely hairy, hairs simple, to 1 mm, pustulose, sometimes small, stellate, infrequently glandular, surface not obscured; petals pale pinkish rose or pale lavender-purple, bases paler, rarely white, veins usually pale, (6–)10–20(–25) mm, pistillate 8–12 mm, bisexual 18–20 mm; staminal column 5–6 mm, hispid-puberulent; anthers white; stigmas (7 or)8 or 9. |
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Seeds | 1.5 mm. |
2 mm. |
Schizocarps | 5 mm diam.; mericarps (7 or)8 or 9, 2–3 mm, ± glabrous, sides thin, smooth to slightly reticulate-veined, not pitted, mucro 0.5–0.8(–1) mm. |
5–7 mm diam.; mericarps 6–9, 3–5.5 mm, sides smooth or slightly reticulate-veined, back less so, not pitted, top minutely hairy, mucro 0.5–0.8 mm. |
2n | = 20. |
= 20. |
Sidalcea neomexicana |
Sidalcea candida |
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Phenology | Flowering (Mar–)Apr–Aug. | Flowering (May–)Jun–Aug(–Sep). |
Habitat | Desert alkaline springs, moist mountain meadows, wet ditches, marshes | Moist stream banks and meadows, mountains |
Elevation | 10–2800 m (0–9200 ft) | (1400–)2000–3200 m ((4600–)6600–10500 ft) |
Distribution |
AZ; CA; CO; ID; NM; NV; OR; TX; UT; WY; Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango)
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CO; NM; NV; UT; WY
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Discussion | Sidalcea neomexicana is variable among and within populations. It is similar to S. covillei and S. sparsifolia, the former possibly derived from it. Sidalcea neomexicana usually can be distinguished by its fleshy roots; hirsute stems; slender pedicels (especially in fruit); pustulate, coarse calyx hairs; and relatively smooth mericarp surfaces. Some plants (in California and Mexico) are well adapted to hot desert springs; overall, S. neomexicana appears to have roots and a rootstock adapted to marshy conditions. It ranges farther south than any other Sidalcea. E. M. F. Roush (1931) recognized no subspecific taxa; C. L. Hitchcock (1957) accepted four geographically and morphologically defined subspecies, three of which (crenulata, neomexicana, thurberi) occur north of Mexico. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Sidalcea candida is one of the more eastern species of Sidalcea (along with S. neomexicana) and is also one of the more easily distinguished because of its relatively large, crowded flowers with white petals, deep, wide-spreading rhizomes, pinkish-blue anthers, and nearly glabrous stems and leaves. It has become a popular garden plant. Hitchcock recognized two varieties based on calyx indument, var. candida with the calyx uniformly hairy, and var. glabrata with the calyx much more hairy at the base than on the lobes. Cockerell distinguished plants with somewhat pink petals as var. tincta. These differences do not appear to be taxonomically significant, and the varieties lack geographic coherence. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 6, p. 346. | FNA vol. 6, p. 328. |
Parent taxa | Malvaceae > subfam. Malvoideae > Sidalcea | Malvaceae > subfam. Malvoideae > Sidalcea |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | S. confinis, S. crenulata, S. neomexicana subsp. crenulata, S. neomexicana subsp. diehlii, S. neomexicana var. diehlii, S. neomexicana var. parviflora, S. neomexicana subsp. thurberi, S. nitrophila, S. parviflora, S. parviflora var. thurberi | S. candida var. glabrata, S. candida var. tincta |
Name authority | A. Gray: Mem. Amer. Acad. Arts, n. s. 4: 23. (1849) | A. Gray: Mem. Amer. Acad. Arts, n. s. 4: 24. (1849) |
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