Sidalcea neomexicana |
Sidalcea malachroides |
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mountain sidalcea, New Mexico checkerbloom, New Mexico checkermallow, New Mexico or salt-spring checkerbloom, Rocky Mountain checkerbloom, salt spring checkerbloom |
maple-leaf checkerbloom, maple-leaf sidalcea |
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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, or subshrubs, (0.4–)0.8–1.5(–2) m, not glaucous, with thick, rather woody caudex or taproot, without rhizomes. |
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. |
clustered, erect, solid, bristly-hirsute, hairs simple, forked, and stellate. |
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, evenly arrayed on stem, similar in size and shape; stipules linear-lanceolate, 5–15 × 0.5 mm; petioles 4–7 cm on distal leaves, 1/2 times to as long as blades, longer on proximal leaves; blade maplelike, usually palmately (3–)5–7- 7–15 mm, pistillate 6–7 mm, bisexual or staminate 10–12 mm; staminal column 5–7 mm, hairy; anthers white to pale purplish or pale yellowish; stigmas 5–9. |
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. |
1–1.5 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. |
5–6 mm diam.; mericarps 5–9, 2.5 mm, glabrous or sparsely stellate-hairy, margins rounded, back ridged, sides smooth or with slight corrugations near margins, not pitted, mucro absent. |
2n | = 20. |
= 20. |
Sidalcea neomexicana |
Sidalcea malachroides |
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Phenology | Flowering (Mar–)Apr–Aug. | Flowering May–Jul(–Aug). |
Habitat | Desert alkaline springs, moist mountain meadows, wet ditches, marshes | Woodlands, redwood forests, moist clearings near coast |
Elevation | 10–2800 m (0–9200 ft) | 20–700 m (100–2300 ft) |
Distribution |
AZ; CA; CO; ID; NM; NV; OR; TX; UT; WY; Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango)
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CA; OR
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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 malachroides has long been considered to be the basal or so-called most ancient extant species of Sidalcea based on its morphology (E. M. F. Roush 1931; C. L. Hitchcock 1957). Molecular data support this conclusion (K. Andreasen and B. G. Baldwin 2001, 2003). These robust plants are distinguished by maplelike leaves that vary little in size and shape from base to apex of the stem, by relatively numerous, relatively small flowers with white or pale pink petals in dense, spiciform clusters on branched inflorescences, and by the coastal habitat. Formerly, it occurred in widely scattered sites from Monterey County, California, to Curry County, Oregon; fewer populations are extant; it has sometimes been cultivated. It is usually found in clearings and disturbed areas; it is threatened by logging and associated road usage, development, and non-native plant competition. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 6, p. 346. | FNA vol. 6, p. 340. |
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 | Malva malachroides, Hesperalcea malachroides, S. vitifolia |
Name authority | A. Gray: Mem. Amer. Acad. Arts, n. s. 4: 23. (1849) | (Hooker & Arnott) A. Gray: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 7: 332. (1868) |
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