Sidalcea neomexicana |
Sidalcea oregana |
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mountain sidalcea, New Mexico checkerbloom, New Mexico checkermallow, New Mexico or salt-spring checkerbloom, Rocky Mountain checkerbloom, salt spring checkerbloom |
Oregon checker-mallow, Oregon 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, perennial, (0.3–)0.4–1.5 m, glaucous or not, with short, thick, rather woody taproot and branching caudex, without rhizomes or rhizomelike rootstocks (subsp. valida sometimes with 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. |
single or clustered, erect, rarely rooting at base, unbranched or distally branched, proximally usually solid, sometimes hollow in age, base glabrous, coarsely stellate-hairy to long-bristly, or glabrate, hairs usually becoming appressed, simple or stellate. |
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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 cauline, basal sometimes deciduous, cauline 3+; stipules usually deciduous, linear to lanceolate, 4–6(–14) × 0.5–1(–2) mm; petioles of basal and proximal leaves (5–)7–10(–35) cm, 3–5 times as long as blades, reduced distally, distalmost leaves sometimes subsessile; blade cordate or reniform-orbiculate, 3–10(–15) × 3–10(–15) cm, base cordate, apex rounded, lobe apex often acute, surfaces glabrous or sparsely hairy, hairs minute, simple, forked, or stellate, proximal usually shallowly palmately 5–7(–9)-lobed, sometimes unlobed with margins crenate; midstem more deeply (3–)5–9-lobed, lobes again palmately or pinnately lobed, distalmost unlobed or 3(–5)-lobed, segments unlobed or deeply lobed, narrow. |
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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. |
erect, usually spiciform, sometimes subcapitate, congested in bud, dense, calyces sometimes conspicuously overlapping in flower and sometimes in fruit, to open and elongate, few-branched or unbranched, 10–20+-flowered, flowers opening and closing sequentially from base to apex, sometimes 3–10 open on same day, not leafy-bracted, not 1-sided, (1.5–)10–30 cm, elongating in flower or fruit; bracts linear to linear-lanceolate, undivided to 2-fid, proximal sometimes divided to base, 4–6(–7) mm, sometimes exceeding flower buds, usually equaling or longer than pedicels, shorter than calyx. |
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Pedicels | 5–8(–40) mm, equaling to much longer than calyx in fruit; involucellar bractlets absent. |
1–3(–10) mm; 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 usually green, 3.5–10 mm, usually lightly reticulate-veined, glabrous or densely, uniformly stellate-puberulent or bristly, surface often obscured; petals usually overlapping, pink or pink-lavender to dark rose-pink or magenta, not notably pale-veined, pistillate 5–10 mm, bisexual 8–15(–20) mm; staminal column 4–6(–9) mm, hairy; anthers white to pinkish; stigmas 6–9. |
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Seeds | 1.5 mm. |
1.5–2.5 mm. |
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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. |
4–7 mm diam.; mericarps 6–9, 2–3 mm, sparsely glandular-puberulent, sometimes glabrous, not stellate-hairy, back and margins rounded, smooth or slightly reticulate-veined or pitted, infrequently prominently roughened at least on margins and/or back, mucro 0.1–0.7 mm. |
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2n | = 20. |
= 20, 40, 60. |
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Sidalcea neomexicana |
Sidalcea oregana |
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Phenology | Flowering (Mar–)Apr–Aug. | |||||||||||||||||
Habitat | Desert alkaline springs, moist mountain meadows, wet ditches, marshes | |||||||||||||||||
Elevation | 10–2800 m (0–9200 ft) | |||||||||||||||||
Distribution |
AZ; CA; CO; ID; NM; NV; OR; TX; UT; WY; Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango)
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CA; ID; MT; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; BC
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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.) |
Subspecies 5 (5 in the flora). Sidalcea oregana is variable and parts of it have been treated as distinct species, subspecies, varieties, or extremes of a continuum. The plants are generally characterized by their strictly erect, leafless inflorescences that are congested in bud, their variable, sparsely hairy, lobed leaves that are both basal and cauline, and their usual lack of rhizomes. They often have been characterized and distinguished from the S. malviflora group by smooth mericarps; this feature depends upon the subspecies and is not true of all plants of S. oregana. These are usually mountain plants; some grow at lower elevations toward the northern parts of the range. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 6, p. 346. | FNA vol. 6, p. 347. | ||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Malvaceae > subfam. Malvoideae > Sidalcea | Malvaceae > subfam. Malvoideae > Sidalcea | ||||||||||||||||
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Subordinate 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 | Sida oregana | ||||||||||||||||
Name authority | A. Gray: Mem. Amer. Acad. Arts, n. s. 4: 23. (1849) | (Nuttall ex Torrey & A. Gray) A. Gray: Mem. Amer. Acad. Arts, n. s. 4: 20. (1849) | ||||||||||||||||
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