TREATMENT FROM THE JEPSON MANUAL (1993) |
previous taxon |
next taxon
Jepson Interchange (more information) |
|
©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.
Subshrub, densely stellate-tomentose or -scabrous
Stem erect
Leaf: petiole stout; blade lanceolate to round, cordate, ± entire or irregularly fine-toothed
Inflorescence: panicle or flowers solitary in axils; bractlets subtending calyx 0
Flower: petals yellow-orange to red-lavender; stigmas head-like
Fruit: segments 812, upper portion dehiscent, with 2 spreading, scarious wings; lower portion seed-bearing, indehiscent, firm, net-veined
Seeds 13, white-puberulent
Species in genus: 4 species: sw US, Mex
Etymology: (F.H. Horsford, Vermont, botanical collector)
Reference: [Fryxell 1985 Syst Bot 10:268272]
Native |
Stem 1040 dm, few-branched, harshly stellate-canescent
Leaf: blade 29 cm, slightly sticky, acute to acuminate, ± cordate, finely toothed
Flower: pedicels 24 mm in flower, 610 mm in fruit; calyx lobes 35 mm, wide-ovate, acuminate; petals 1021 mm, pink to red-lavender, drying bluish
Fruit: segments 1012, 78 mm; wings ± lanceolate, 3 X length of lower part
Seed 1 per segment
Ecology: Uncommon. Rocky canyons, creosote-bush scrub, washes
Elevation: 100500 m.
Bioregional distribution: Sonoran Desert
Distribution outside California: s Arizona, n Mexico
Flowering time: MarApr, NovDec
Horticultural information: TRY.