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MALVACEAE

MALLOW FAMILY

Steven R. Hill, except as specified

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 5–many 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 85:531–553; Alverson et al. 1999 Amer J Bot 86:1474–1486; Bayer et al. 1999 Bot J Linn Soc 129:267–303]
Mature fruit important for identification.

MALVELLA

ALKALI-MALLOW

Perennial
Stem prostrate to decumbent
Leaf: blade generally asymmetric, generally silvery-stellate
Inflorescence: pedicel ± jointed at tip, generally recurved in fruit; bractlets subtending calyx 1–3, linear, sometimes deciduous
Flower: calyx lobes ± = tube; petals stellate-hairy in bud, cream-white to yellow; stigmas head-like
Fruit: segments generally 6–10, indehiscent, slightly inflated, beak 0
Seed 1 per segment
Species in genus: 4 species: Am, Medit
Etymology: (Greek & Latin: small mallow)
Reference: [Fryxell 1974 Southw. Naturalist 19:97–103]

Native

M. leprosa (Ortega) Krapov.

ALKALI-MALLOW, WHITE-WEED

Perennial
Stem decumbent, 1–4 dm, densely white-stellate; some hairs bristly, some scale-like
Leaf: blade 1–3 cm, reniform, round, or triangular, asymmetric, toothed, margin wavy
Inflorescence: flowers generally 1–3 per axil; bractlets 3, 3 mm
Flower: calyx 6–10 mm; petals 10–15 mm, cream-white to yellow
Fruit: segments 6–10, 3 mm, generally net-veined on sides
Ecology: Valleys, orchards, generally in saline soil
Elevation: < 1000 m.
Bioregional distribution: California (especially Great Central Valley)
Distribution outside California: to Washington, Idaho, Texas, Mexico, S.America
Weedy
Synonyms: Sida l. (Ortega) K. Schum. var. hederacea (Hook.) K. Schum
TOXIC to sheep, perhaps other livestock.

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