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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.

SIDALCEA

CHECKER MALLOW, CHECKERBLOOM

Annual, perennial herb, sometimes from long, creeping rhizomes
Stem generally erect or base ± decumbent
Leaves generally mostly from near stem base; lowest blades generally crenate to shallowly lobed, upper blades generally deeply lobed (generally ± compound)
Inflorescence generally spike- or panicle-like, generally more open in fruit; bracts at pedicel base 2, generally stipule-like; bractlets subtending calyx generally 0(–3)
Flower: calyx lobes = or > tube; petals purple or rose-pink to white; stamen-tube with generally 2 series of ± fused filaments near tip; stigmas linear, on inner side of style branches
Fruit: segments generally 5–10, indehiscent, generally ± beaked, walls thin
Seed 1 per fruit segment
Species in genus: ± 25 species: w North America
Etymology: (Greek: combination of 2 names for mallow)
Reference: [Hitchcock 1957 Univ Wash Publ Biol 18:1–96]
Highly variable and difficult, with many local forms; some plants will not key with certainty. Additional work warranted.

Native

S. reptans Greene

Perennial from long rhizomes
Stem 2–5 dm, often rooting; lower stem densely long-bristly, hairs 2–3 mm
Leaves: lowest unlobed, long-petioled, blades bristly
Inflorescence ± open (some flowers overlapping)
Flower: calyx 8–10 mm, finely stellate, marginal hairs longer; petals 12–20 mm, deep pink to lavender
Fruit: segment ± 3 mm, deeply net-veined and pitted, densely fine-stellate
Chromosomes: 2n=20
Ecology: Moist meadows, dry places in pine forests
Elevation: 1200–2000 m.
Bioregional distribution: Sierra Nevada (especially c High Sierra Nevada)
Horticultural information: 4, 5, 6, IRR: 1, 2, 3, 7, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21; GRCVR.

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