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scaly globemallow

apricot mallow, desert globemallow, desert mallow

Habit Plants perennial. Plants perennial.
Stems

ascending, white to silvery, 1–4(–6) dm, silvery stellate-lepidote.

erect, yellow-green or gray to white, 5–10 dm, yellow-green- or gray- to white-canescent.

Leaf

blades white to silvery, linear to triangular, mostly unlobed, proximalmost blades 3-parted, rarely with nonfiliform lobes, 1–3.5 cm, not rugose, base truncate to cuneate, margins entire, surfaces silvery stellate-lepidote.

Inflorescences

racemose, lax, open, 3–12-flowered, tip not leafy;

involucellar bractlets silvery-lepidote.

Flowers

sepals 4.5–5.5(–7) mm;

petals red-orange, 8–15 mm;

anthers yellow.

Seeds

1 per mericarp, brown, usually glabrous.

Schizocarps

flattened-spheric to conic;

mericarps 7–9, 2.5–3.5 × 2–3 mm, thick-coriaceous, nonreticulate dehiscent part 20–40% of height, tip muticous-mucronulate, indehiscent part usually wider than dehiscent part, sides coarsely reticulate.

Mericarp

, brown, glabrous or pubescent.

2n

= 20.

Sphaeralcea leptophylla

Sphaeralcea ambigua

Phenology Flowering spring–summer.
Habitat Dry rocky areas
Elevation 1500–1800 m (4900–5900 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CO; NM; NV; TX; UT; Mexico (Chihuahua, Sonora)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; CA; NV; UT; nw Mexico
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Varieties 4 (3 in the flora).

Sphaeralcea ambigua var. versicolor (Kearney) Kearney is known from Baja California.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Key
1. Petals lavender, pink, or white.
var. rosacea
1. Petals apricot or red-orange
→ 2
2. Leaf blades not markedly rugose.
var. ambigua
2. Leaf blades markedly rugose.
var. rugosa
Source FNA vol. 6, p. 366. FNA vol. 6, p. 359.
Parent taxa Malvaceae > subfam. Malvoideae > Sphaeralcea Malvaceae > subfam. Malvoideae > Sphaeralcea
Sibling taxa
S. ambigua, S. angustifolia, S. caespitosa, S. coccinea, S. coulteri, S. digitata, S. emoryi, S. fendleri, S. fumariensis, S. gierischii, S. grossulariifolia, S. hastulata, S. incana, S. laxa, S. lindheimeri, S. moorei, S. munroana, S. orcuttii, S. parvifolia, S. pedatifida, S. polychroma, S. procera, S. psoraloides, S. rusbyi, S. wrightii
S. angustifolia, S. caespitosa, S. coccinea, S. coulteri, S. digitata, S. emoryi, S. fendleri, S. fumariensis, S. gierischii, S. grossulariifolia, S. hastulata, S. incana, S. laxa, S. leptophylla, S. lindheimeri, S. moorei, S. munroana, S. orcuttii, S. parvifolia, S. pedatifida, S. polychroma, S. procera, S. psoraloides, S. rusbyi, S. wrightii
Subordinate taxa
S. ambigua var. ambigua, S. ambigua var. rosacea, S. ambigua var. rugosa
Synonyms Malvastrum leptophyllum, Malveopsis leptophylla, S. janeae, S. leptophylla var. janeae
Name authority (A. Gray) Rydberg: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 40: 59. (1913) A. Gray: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 22: 292. (1887)
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