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. jonesii (Munz) Kearney

JONES' BUSH MALLOW

Plant < 25 dm; hairs generally velvety, close, white
Stem: branches slender, flexible, curved
Leaf: blade 2.5–4.5(7) cm, ovate to ± diamond-shaped, thin; lobes 0 or obscurely 3–5; surfaces hairy, ash-green
Inflorescence panicle-like; clusters generally 3–6-flowered, open, peduncled; bractlets 2.5–8 mm, < 1 mm wide
Flower: calyx 5–10 mm, not angled in bud, lobes free in bud, 3–7.5 mm, > or >> tube, generally narrow-triangular
Chromosomes: 2n=34
Ecology: UNCOMMON. Open chaparral in foothill woodland
Elevation: 250–830 m.
Bioregional distribution: Outer South Coast Ranges (Monterey, San Luis Obispo cos.)
Synonyms: M. gracilis (Eastw.) Kearney (slender bush mallow); M. niveus (Eastw.) Kearney (San Luis Obispo County bush mallow)
Horticultural information: DRN, DRY: 7, 8, 9, 14, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 &SUN: 15, 16, 17, 24.