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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.

MALACOTHAMNUS

BUSH MALLOW

David M. Bates

Subshrubs, shrubs; hairs sparse to dense, stellate (stalked or sessile), simple, and glandular
Stem erect; branches sometimes spreading
Leaf: blade toothed, lobes 0 or 3–7
Inflorescence head-like to panicle-like, composed of axillary clusters (each a cyme) variously arrayed; clusters few–many-flowered, loose to dense, congested or well separated; bractlets subtending calyx 3
Flower: petals > calyx, generally pale pinkish purple or white (often purplish when dry); filament column included; stigmas head-like
Fruit disk-like; segments 7–14, 2–5 mm, separating, each dehiscing into 2 valves, unarmed, smooth, top hairy
Seed 1 per fruit segment
Species in genus: 11 species: CA, nw Mex
Etymology: (Greek: soft shrub)
Spp. represent major morphological variants; they are all interfertile and sometimes intergrade in areas of proximity. Variation between populations (especially in hairs, inflorescence, and flowers) is high and of ± complex pattern within most species

Native

M. densiflorus (S. Watson) Greene

Plant < 20 dm; hairs sparse to moderately dense, tawny; stellate hairs generally overlain by 1–few-armed, bristly hairs < 3 mm
Stem: branches slender
Leaf: blade 3–6 cm, ovate, often leathery; lobes 0–5
Inflorescence spike-like; clusters sessile, generally densely flowered, well separated; bractlets 5–15 mm, < 1 mm wide
Flower: calyx 6–14 mm, sparsely long-bristly, sometimes winged in bud, lobes 4–11 mm, = to >> tube, triangular-acute to ovate-acuminate
Chromosomes: 2n=34
Ecology: Chaparral
Elevation: 100–1100 m.
Bioregional distribution: Peninsular Ranges
Distribution outside California: nw Baja California
Plants with small bractlets and calyx have been called var. viscidus (Abrams) Kearney, which intergrades completely with typical form. Also intergrades with M. fasciculatus in coastal PR.