Sidalcea neomexicana |
Sidalcea hartwegii |
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mountain sidalcea, New Mexico checkerbloom, New Mexico checkermallow, New Mexico or salt-spring checkerbloom, Rocky Mountain checkerbloom, salt spring checkerbloom |
Hartweg's checkerbloom, valley checkerbloom |
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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, annual, 0.1–0.4(–0.6) m, not glaucous, with taproot. |
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, erect, unbranched or distally branched, often zigzag, solid, proximally usually glabrous or sparsely stellate-puberulent. |
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. |
cauline; stipules deciduous or inconspicuous, sometimes purplish, subulate, 1–1.5(–3) × 0.5–1 mm; petiole 0.5–1.5(–3) cm, usually 1/2 times involucellar bractlets absent. |
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. |
bisexual or unisexual and pistillate, plants gynodioecious; calyx 8–10(–12) mm, not much enlarging in fruit, stellate-canescent, sparsely ciliate; petals pink to rose-purple or white, pale-veined, often whitened at base, 18–20(–25) mm; stamens: outer filaments incompletely connate, distally distinct, anthers not attached to connate portion of filaments; staminal column 6–7 mm, hairy; anthers white, stalked, aborted in pistillate flowers; stigmas 6 or 7. |
Seeds | 1.5 mm. |
1.5–2 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 or 7, 2.5–4 mm, sides smooth, margins rugose, back reticulate-veined, deeply pitted especially on top, glabrous or glandular-puberulent, mucro 0.5–0.8(–1) mm. |
2n | = 20. |
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Sidalcea neomexicana |
Sidalcea hartwegii |
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Phenology | Flowering (Mar–)Apr–Aug. | Flowering (Mar–)Apr–Jun. |
Habitat | Desert alkaline springs, moist mountain meadows, wet ditches, marshes | Dry to moist, grassy hillsides, foothill woodlands, vernal pools, often on serpentine |
Elevation | 10–2800 m (0–9200 ft) | 30–800(–1000) m (100–2600(–3300) ft) |
Distribution |
AZ; CA; CO; ID; NM; NV; OR; TX; UT; WY; Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango)
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CA
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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 hartwegii is widespread in California from Tulare to Shasta counties, a range similar to those of the other vernal-pool annuals. It is most easily recognized by its stamen column, on which the anthers are borne on free portions of filaments, unlike in the other annual species and more typical of the perennial species. This helps to support the suggestion that the annual species were separately derived and not part of a single lineage. Sidalcea hartwegii often grows with S. calycosa, from which it can be distinguished also by its rugose rather than deeply longitudinally furrowed dorsal mericarp surfaces. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 6, p. 346. | FNA vol. 6, p. 333. |
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. hartwegii var. tenella, S. tenella |
Name authority | A. Gray: Mem. Amer. Acad. Arts, n. s. 4: 23. (1849) | A. Gray: Mem. Amer. Acad. Arts, n. s. 4: 20. (1849) |
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