Sphaeralcea

 Malvaceae

©The World Botanical Associates Web Page
Prepared by Richard W. Spjut
December 2004, Dec. 2005, Aug 2006, Dec 2007, Feb 2914

Sphaeralcea ambigua
Mojave Desert, Mid Hills
May 1973

 

Sphaeralcea ambigua
Mojave Desert, Hills N of Bishop, CA
May 2006

Sphaeralcea ambigua var. rosacea
W Sonoran Desert, San Jacinto Mts., CA
May 1973

 

 

Sphaeralcea ambigua var. rugosa
CA: San Bernardino Co., rocks in hills
north of Lucerne Dry Lake, 1000 m
Nov 2007

Sphaeralcea angustifolia
Big Bend Region, TX
Spjut & Marin 15078, Nov 2002

 
 

Sphaeralcea angustifolia
Hudspeth Co., TX
Nov. 2007

Sphaeralcea coccinea
Southern Wyoming
June 2005

 

 

Sphaeralcea emoryi
CA/NV state line north of I-15
Nov 2007

Sphaeralcea fulva
Baja California: Pacific Coast just north
of Guerrero Negro, common on sand
dunes, March 1980

 

Sphaeralcea gierischii

Zion National Park
May 2008

 

Sphaeralcea grossulariifolia

Utah. Great Basin Desert. San Juan Co,. BLM: S of Blanding on Hwy 191, just N of jct with Hwy 163, Bluff Bench, east side of hwy; 37º19'34.8", 109º30.43.9",1464 m.  Blackbrush-snakeweed grassland. Richard Spjut & Susan Spjut 16309, 19 May 2008

 

 

Sphaeralcea leptophylla.

 Utah—Great Basin Desert. San Juan Co., BLM: Junction of 191 and 261, 5 mi north of Mexican Hat; 37º11'43.4", 109º52.01.7", 1382 m.  Snakeweed grassland.
Richard Spjut & Susan Spjut 16313, 19 May 2008

 

 

Sphaeralcea subhastata
Hudspeth Co., TX
Nov 2007

 

USDA ARS Archive records for recollections of Sphaeralcea for cancer research

Sphaeralcea axillaris

Sphaeralcea parvifolia

Arches National Park, Utah
May 2008

 

Trees and Shrubs of Kern County (Jan 2013)    

     Sphaeralcea. Annuals, perennial herbs and subshrubs, usually covered with dendritic hairs; leaves simple, alternate and maple-like in outline, or narrow of uniform width to sword-shaped; flowers in axillary clusters or in linear arrays on terminal scapes, white, rose, orange or purple; petals 5 surrounded by a cupular calyx with 5 triangular teeth; stamens united into a columnar tube; ovary of 5–20 carpels that separate in fruit (schizocarpic), each monocarp with 1–3 ovules, with a lower reticulate indehiscent portion and upper opaque dehiscent segment; fruit a camarium, 1–2 (-3) seeded.  ± 50 spp. in arid North and South America, 8 in California, 3 in Kern Co.; however, only 1 species and variety has been recognized in previous floras of the County, S. ambigua var. ambigua. The additional reports below need confirmation.

1.Leaves sword shaped, sometimes with a pair of broad lobes near
base, 5–7× longer than wide..................... ...................... Sphaeralcea angustifolia

1. Leaves triangular to heart-shaped, 1–5× longer than wide, with or
without basal lobes................................................................................................... 2

2. Leaves with a pair of wider basal lobes and a narrower and longer
terminal lobe.............................................................................. Sphaeralcea emoryi

2. Leaves maple-like in outline, lobes ±equal............................... Sphaeralcea ambigua-3

       3. Flowers on short pedicels/branchlets, <5 mm from main axis................. var. rugosa

       3. Flowers on side branches 1–5 cm or more from main flowering stems.................... 4

       4. Flowers red orange to apricot................................ ........................... var. ambigua

       4. Flowers lavender to pink...................................................................... var. rosacea

 

Trees and Shrubs of Kern County (Jan 2013)    

Sphaeralcea ambigua A. Gray 1887 var. ambigua. [Includes Sphaeralcea ambigua var.. monticola (Kearney) Kearney 1939]. Desert mallow. A common desert subshrub with many ascending to erect hairy herbaceous stems to 1 m or more high arising from a branched woody base; leaves thick, heart-shaped, maple-like in outline, widely notched at base, digitately veined, shallowly 3–5 lobed and shallowly toothed along margins, 1.5–6 cm long and wide; flowers Feb–Jul, orange to apricot in color, widely spaced on  secondary and tertiary floral branches to 5 cm or more in length, shorter towards the tip of the main floral axis; camarium of 8–12 monocarps, monocarps 2-seeded, brown to black, smooth to hairy; creosote scrub, shadscale scrub, rabbitbrush scrub, sagebrush scrub, Joshua tree and pinyon-juniper woodlands, especially road margins and disturbed areas in the deserts, 600–2,400 m, southern Utah, Nevada, to New Mexico, Arizona, California and in northern Mexico, Sonora to Bahía de San Agustin and Baja California to Bahía de los Angeles. Type probably from Mohave Co., AZ (“Big Cañon of the Colorado River”). Kern Co.: Mainly north of Walker Pass, also common near Boron, 696–1,524 m (CCH).

            Variety monticola Kearney 1935, which is included here under var. ambigua, has been distinguished in older floras (Abrams, Munz, Twisselmann) by the whitish stems, more coarsely reticulate carpels, thinner and less rugose leaves and by occurring at higher elevations, 4,000–7,000 ft in Pinyon juniper woodland from Mono Co. to San Bernardino Co, in contrast to the typical variety that differed by the yellowish stems and other aforementioned features, occurring below 4,000 ft.

Sphaeralcea ambigua A. Gray var. rosacea (Sphaeralcea rosacea Munz & I. M. Johnston 1923) Kearney 1939.  Parish mallow. Differs by the lavender to pink flowers; often drying violet. Generally Sonoran Desert in Arizona with an apparent disjunct occurrence near  Guaymas, Sonora and along the western edge of the Mojave and Sonoran deserts in California south to Sierra San Pedro Mártir in Baja California.  Type from Palm Springs, CA. Kern  Co.: John Bachus Peak—Owens Peak (N. Fraga & M. McGlaughlin, 2,028 m, 12 May 2004); Mojave Desert; West Mojave Desert region near Ricardo, 2,800 and 3,000 ft (N. C. Cooper, 16 May 1949); Southern San Joaquin Valley, Bakersfield (P. Osborn, Jun 1930).

Sphaeralcea ambigua A. Gray var. rugosa (Sphaeralcea ambigua ssp. rugosa Kearney 1935) Kearney 1939. Similar to the typical variety in color of petals, distinguished from it by the flowers appearing on short pedicles mostly along the main stem, thus, appearing more congested.  In California reported along the high desert mountains, White Mts. eastern Sierra Nevada, State Line, Peninsular Ranges, south to Sierra San Pedro Mártir in Baja California. Type from Idyllwild, San Jacinto Mts., CA. Kern Co., CCH: Top of Leuhman Ridge, Edwards Air Force Base (L. Heckard & T, Evans, 5 Apr 1977); 2.2 road miles southwest of Jawbone Canyon. 2,500 ft (J. F. Emmel, 15 Apr 1973).

Sphaeralcea angustifolia (Malva angustifolia Cavanilles 1786) G. Don 1831. Narrowed leaved desert mallow. Subshrub with several or more erect simple herbaceous stems from a woody base to 1.5 m  high; stems pale yellowish green; leaves 5–7× longer than wide, generally sword shaped, with or without basal lobes, 2–6 cm long on petioles 1–2 cm; flowers May–Nov, generally along the main stem on pedicels 2–4 mm, reddish orange (grenadine); coccarium of 10 monocarps ~ 5–7 mm across, each monocarp ~2 mm wide and 3 mm high, the lower indehiscent portion transparent, upper smooth, seeds 1 or 2, brown to black minutely hairy. Disturbed areas in desert communities, often along road margins, 6–500 (-1,100) m; San Joaquin Valley, Mojave Desert and northern Sonoran Desert; California to Kansas, Texas, northern Mexico. Type from the Arkansas River [southeastern CO]. Kern Co.:: Hayfields, Chuckwalla Mts. (M. D. Clary, 29 Nov 1931), and East Bakersfield, southern Pacific Yards, 152 m (G. Griffith, 16 May & Jun 1, 1937, the latter date identified as var. cuspidata) from CCH.

Sphaeralcea emoryi A. Gray 1849 var. emoryi. Emory’s desert mallow. Subshrub, woody at base, stems ascending to erect to 2 m, occasionally branched above, branches long slender, flexuous; leaves similar to S. angustifolia, generally wide and more lobed at base, the terminal segment wider and shorter than in S. angustifolia, triangular, 2.5–5.5 cm on petioles 1–6 mm in length; flowers Feb–Jul, red orange to lavender, close to stem on lower part of plant, more dense and branched above; camarium with 11–16 monocarps, each 2-seeded.  Mostly deserts below 2,000 ft, occasionally up to 5,000 ft; southern California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Sonora and Baja California. Type from valley of the Gila River, Yuma County, AZ.  Kern Co.: Rare, 2 miles south of Mojave (L. Abrams, 30 Apr 1927; CCH).