TREATMENT FROM THE JEPSON MANUAL (1993) |
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©Copyright 1993 by the Regents of the University of California
For up-to-date information about California vascular plants, visit the Jepson eFlora. |
AND IS MAINTAINED FOR ARCHIVAL PURPOSES ONLY |
Annual, perennial herb, shrubs, trees, generally stellate-hairy; juice sticky; inner bark tough, fibrous
Leaves alternate, simple, petioled; blade generally palmately veined or lobed, stipules present
Inflorescence often leafy; whorl or involucre of bractlets often subtending calyx
Flower generally bisexual, radial; calyx lobes 5, margins abutting in bud; petals 5, free (fused at base to filament tube, so falling together); stamens many, filaments fused into a tube surrounding style, tube fused in turn to petal bases; pistil 1, ovary superior, chambers generally 5 or more, style branches, stigmas generally 1 or 2 X as many as chambers
Fruit of 5many disk- or wedge-shaped segments, loculicidal capsule, or berry
Genera in family: 100 genera, 2000 species: worldwide, especially warm regions; some cultivated (e.g., Abelmoschus , okra; Alcea ; Gossypium , cotton; Hibiscus , Malvaviscus )
Recent taxonomic note: Recently treated to include Sterculiaceae [Angiosperm phylogeny Group 1998 Ann Missouri Bot Gard 85:531553; Alverson et al. 1999 Amer J Bot 86:14741486; Bayer et al. 1999 Bot J Linn Soc 129:267303]
Mature fruit important for identification.
Annual, some plants with only pistillate flowers, generally stellate-hairy
Stem prostrate to erect
Leaf: blade toothed to lobed or parted
Inflorescence: flowers solitary in axils or in terminal clusters; pedicel longer in fruit; bractlets subtending calyx 3, linear to thread-like
Flower: calyx lobes > tube, acuminate; petals generally > calyx, white to purplish (drying darker); filament column included; stigmas head-like
Fruit: segments 936, separating, indehiscent, unarmed, glabrous, lateral walls fragile, margins and outer wall ridged or net-veined
Seed 1 per fruit segment
Species in genus: 3 species: sw US, nw Mex
Etymology: (Greek: lonely mallow, from desert habitats)
Native |
Stem ± erect, < 50 cm, often with ascending basal branches, densely stellate-hairy near tips
Leaf generally 25 cm wide, deeply 35-lobed to -parted; lobe tips ± deeply toothed
Inflorescence: flowers generally > leaves; bractlets 2.515 mm
Flower: calyx 4.513 mm, lobes 311 mm, 1.55 mm wide; petals 5.525 mm, white to purplish
Fruit: segments 922, 1.52 mm, ± wedge-shaped in X -section, margins rounded, cushion-like, outer wall cross-ridged
Ecology: Grassland, scrub, foothill woodland
Elevation: 1001300 m.
Bioregional distribution: c&s Sierra Nevada Foothills, Tehachapi Mountain Area, San Joaquin Valley, e San Francisco Bay Area, Inner South Coast Ranges, Western Transverse Ranges.Sspp. intergrade.