96 MALVACEAE 



crenate, bright green, with few sparse long-rayed, slender stellate hairs on the upper surface, 

 densely soft-stellate-tomentose and veiny beneath; petioles stout, woolly, 1.5-2.5 cm. long; 

 stipules scarious, subulate, 8-12 mm. long; inflorescence interrupted-spicate, 2-4 dm. long, the 

 flowers subsessile in white-woolly clusters ; involucellate bractlets filiform, conspicuous, equaling 

 the calyx-lobes; calyx 6-7 mm. long, white-tomentose, the lobes ovate-lanceolate, acute, 4-5 

 mm. long; petals pink, oblong-obovate, 12-18 mm. long; stamineal column slender, 5-6 mm. 

 long; carpels 2.5-3 mm. high, stellate-pubescent over whole summit when young, glabrous in 

 age; seeds 1.8 mm. high, short-puberulent. 



Known only from the vicinity of the type locality on San Clemente Island. Type locality: canyon above 

 Lemmon Tank, San Clemente Island, California. April-July. 



14. Malvastrum densiflorum S. Wats. Many-flowered Malvastrum. Fig. 3190. 



Malvastrum densiflorum S. Wats. Proc. Amer. Acad. 17: 368. 1882. 

 Sphaeralcea densiftora Jepson, Man. Fl. PI. Calif. 633. 1925. 



SufTrutescent, 1-2 m. high, with scurfy, short-rayed stellate pubescence throughout. Leaves 

 broadly ovate to orbicular, shallowly 3-5-lolDed, shallowly cordate to broadly cuneate at the base, 

 irregularly dentate-crenate to serrate, 2-4 cm. long, 1.5-3.5 cm. wide, sparsely stellate above, 

 more densely so and prominently veined beneath; petioles 0.5-2 cm. long; inflorescence inter- 

 rupted-spicate, flowers sessile, crowded; involucellate bractlets conspicuous, linear, 8-18 mm. 

 long, equaling or exceeding the calyx-lobes ; calyx ovoid, deeply cleft, stellate-pubescent with 

 hairs much longer than those of the leaves and stems, the lobes lance-ovate, acuminate, 10-15 

 mm. long; petals 10-15 mm. long, rose-pink; carpels 2 mm. high, stellate-pubescent on the upper 

 surface, glabrous on the backs and sides. 



Dry slopes in chaparral, Upper Sonoran Zone; Orange and Riverside Counties to San Diego County, Cali- 

 fornia, and northern Lower California. Type locality: Agua Caliente (Palm Springs), Riverside County, 

 California. March-July. 



Malvastrum densiflorum var. viscidum (Abrams) Estes, Bull. S. Calif. Acad. 24: 85. 1925. {Malvastrum 

 viscidam Abrams, Bull. Torrey Club 34: 264. 1907; Sphaeralcea densiflora var. viscida Jepson, Fl. Calif. 2: 498. 

 1936.) Differs from the typical plant in having calyx-lobes only 3-7 mm. long, correspondingly shorter bractlets, 

 and leaves usually viscid-glandular on the upper surface. Southern San Diego County, California, into northern 

 Lower California. Type locality: El Nido, San Diego County, California. 



15. Malvastrum marrubioides Dur. & Hilg. Foothill Malvastrum. Fig. 3191. 



Malvastrum marrubioides Dur. & Hilg. Journ. Acad. Phila. II. 3: 38. 1854. 

 Malacothamnus marrubioides Greene, Leaflets Bot. Obs. 1 : 208. 1906. 

 Malvastrum gabrielense Munz & Jtn. Bull. Torrey Club 52:223. 1925. 

 Sphaeralcea densiflora var. gabrielensis Jepson, Fl. Calif. 2: 498. 1936. 



Shrub 1-2 m. high with slender virgate branches and moderately dense, fine-rayed stellate 

 pubescence. Leaves ovate to suborbicular, 2-4.5 cm. long, serrate-dentate, truncate to subcordate 

 at the base, green above, paler and conspicuously veined beneath; petioles 5-15 mm. long; stipules 

 9-12 mm. long, linear-subulate; inflorescence interrupted-spicate; pedicels 1-4 mm. long; bract- 

 lets linear-subulate, 8-12 mm. long; calyx 10-12 mm. long, loosely stellate-pubescent, the lobes 

 lance-ovate, 3-3.5 mm. wide, 7-9 mm. long, acuminate, densely white-tomentose to base of the 

 lobes within; petals rose-colored, 15-18 mm. long; stamineal column 10—12 mm. long; carpels 

 cochleate-reniform, 2-2.5 mm. high and wide, puberulent with erect-rayed stellate hairs over 

 entire summit, glabrous on the back ; seeds dark brown, irregularly puberulent. 



Dry hillsides, Upper Sonoran Zone; Fort Miller, Fresno County, north slopes of San Gabriel Mountains, 

 Los Angeles County, California. Type locality: Fort Miller, Fresno County, California. July-Oct. 



7. EREMALCHE Greene, Leaflets Bot. Obs. 1 : 208. 1906. 



Low annual herbs with alternate orbicular or palmately parted leaves, stellate-pubes- 

 cent throughout. Involucellate bractlets 3, distinct, persistent. Flowers solitary or in 

 pairs in the axils of the upper leaves. Petals white to rose-purple, hairy along the margins 

 of the claws. Stamineal column simple, glabrous. Style-branches from one and a half to 

 two times as long as the stamineal column, filiform, as many as the carpels; stigmas capi- 

 tate. Fruit discoid. Carpels 10-40, 1-ovulate, indehiscent, reticulate or transversely 

 ridged on the back and angles, glabrous. One seed in each carpel, completely filling the 

 cavity. Embryo forming an incomplete circle ; endosperm scanty, oily. [Name Greek, re- 

 ferring to the desert habitat.] 



A genus of 4 species of the southwestern United States and adjacent Mexico. Type species, Malvastrum 

 rotundifolium A. Gray. 



Leaves reniform-orbicular, crenate; carpels strongly reticulate dorsally and laterally, flattened laterally, the 



angles acute. 1. £• rotundifolia. 



Leaves palmately 3-S-lobed; carpels less strongly flattened laterally, transversely ridged, scarcely reticulate, 

 angles rounded. 

 Calyx-lobes ovate, abruptly short-acuminate; inflorescence hispidulous, hairs coarse, 10-20-rayed; corolla 



rose to rose-purple; mature carpels stramineous. 2. E. Parryi. 



Calyx-lobes lance-attenuate; inflorescence puberulent, hairs slender, 3-8-rayed; corolla creamy white; mature 

 carpels brown or grayish. 



Petals 10-12 mm. long; pubescence of leaves of 5-7-rayed hairs; carpels gray to light brown. 



3. E. kernensis. 

 Petals 2-5 mm. long; pubescence of leaves of 3-5-rayed hairs; carpels dark brown. 



4. E. exilis. 



