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. palmeri (S. Watson) Greene

SANTA LUCIA BUSH MALLOW

Plant < 25 dm; hairs simple and stellate, canescent or tawny
Stem: branches stout
Leaf: blade generally < 8 cm, ± ovate, thin or thick, crenate to coarsely dentate, lobes generally 3–5
Inflorescence head-like and terminal or spike-like and short; clusters dense, sessile, subtended by conspicuous bracts; bractlets 8–16(21) mm, 1–8 mm wide, ± linear to ovate
Flower: calyx 8–19 mm, obscurely angled to winged in bud, lobes 5–15 mm, > or >> tube, ovate-acuminate
Chromosomes: 2n=34
Ecology: UNCOMMON. Interior valleys, foothills
Elevation: 30–800 m.
Bioregional distribution: s Central Coast, Outer South Coast Ranges (Monterey, San Luis Obispo cos.)
Synonyms: var. involucratus (B.L. Rob.) Kearney (Carmel Valley bush mallow); var. lucianus Kearney (Arroyo Seco bush mallow)
Variable in hair types and density, bract and bractlet width, calyx size, inflorescence form; forms intergrade; some approach M. aboriginum
Horticultural information: DRN, DRY: 7, 8, 9, 14, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 &SUN: 15, 16, 17, 24.