MALLOW FAMILY 497 



5821. Colorado Desert: Corn Sprs., Chuckwalla Mts., Muns 4" ^ecTc 4874; Painted Canon, Mecca 

 Hills, Jepson 11,680, Coachella, Eall 5793; Coyote Creek near Coyote Mt,, ne. San Diego Co., 

 Jepson 8871; Borrego Valley, Jepson 8867; Fort Yuma, Jepson. 



Eefs. — Sphaeralcea rotundifolia Jepson, Man. 633 (1925). Malvastrum rotundifolium 

 GtslJ, Proc. Am. Acad. 7:333 (1867), type loc. Ft. Mohave, Ariz., Cooper. Eremalche rotundi- 

 folia Greene, Lflts, 1:208 (1906), 



2. S. exilis Jepson. Ground Mallow. Steins several from the base, diffuse 

 or decumbent, 4 to 18 inches long; herbage stellate-pubescent; leaf -blades pal- 

 mately 3 to 5-cleft with dentate or incisely-toothed lobes, 3 to 5 (or 11) lines wide; 

 bractlets 3, slender; calyx-lobes ovate, acuminate; petals white or rose-color, ob- 

 ovate, 214 to 4 lines long; anthers blue; carpels subreniform, transversely rugose. 



Sandy plains and washes and desert mesas, 150 to 2800 feet : inner South 

 Coast Range; a weed immigrant in the San Joaquin Valley; Mohave and Colorado 

 deserts. South to Lower California. Mar.-May. 



Field note. — In late winter when this plant first appears on the sandy mesas and flats in the 

 desert, its earliest leafage is curiously suggestive of that of a buttercup. The 12 to 15 stamens 

 are about % the length of the corolla which is 2^4 lines -wide. The calyx -lobes usually equal the 

 corolla. 



Loes. — Inner South Coast Range: Elkhorn Scarp, se. San Luis Obispo Co., Jepson 16,226. 

 San Joaquin Valley: Merced, Bolander 4843; Huron, Fresno Co., Eastwood ; McKittrick, Jepson 

 16,242; Bakersfield, Jepson 6764. Mohave Desert: Lancaster, Davy 2282; Mohave sta., Jepson 

 15,443; Kramer, Jepson 5330; Calico Wash, n. of Daggett, Jepson 6704. Colorado Desert: 

 McCoy Wash, e. Riverside Co., Hall 5928 ; Whitewater, Jepson 11,629 ; Palm Sprs. of San Jacinto, 

 Parish 99; Borrego Sprs., T. Brandegee ; Vallecito, e. San Diego Co., Jepson 8597. 



Refs. — Sphaeralcea exilis Jepson, Man. 633 (1925). Malvastrum exile Gray, Ives Rep. 

 8 (1860), type loc. Pyramid Canon, Colorado Desert, Newherry ; Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. Cal. 242 

 (1901), ed. 2, 261 (1911) in part. Malveopsis exilis Ktze. Rev. Gen. PI. 1:72 (1891). Eremalche 

 exilis Greene, Lflts. 1:208 (1906). 



3. S. parryi Jepson. Violet Mallow. Stem erectly branching from or near 

 the base, 10 to 19 inches high; herbage thinly puberulent or the stems subglabrous; 

 leaf -blades twice lobed or cleft, % to 1% inches wide, on petioles % to 2 inches 

 long; flowers peduncled, several in somewhat loose terminal cymes; calyx-lobes 

 orbicular-ovate, the attenuate apex nearly as long as the body; corolla violet- 

 purple, Yo to 1 inch long; carpels rugulose-reticulate, 1 line long. 



Dry flats, 400 to 3000 feet : upper Salinas Valley, east to the upper San Joaquin 

 Valley and its bounding foothills. Mar.-May. 



Note on infl. — The flowers are borne in clusters on the ends of the main stem or main 

 branches ; soon after anthesis they become remote and seem as if axillary but are ia reality ter- 

 minal and cymose. Meantime their peduncles elongate conspicuously, in fruit attaining a length 

 of 1% to 6 inches. In the branch-bearing axils supplementary flowering branches next develop 

 alongside the fruiting peduncles. 



Locs. — Paso Robles, Barier; White Hills, n. side of Cuyama Valley, San Luis Obispo Co., 

 Eastwood ; Zapato Chino Creek near Coalinga, Jepson 15,360; Shafter, Allison Krames; Buena 

 Vista Hills, head of San Joaquin Valley, Eastwood; Bakersfield, Davy 1703; Poso Creek, Green- 

 horn foothills, Hall 5020; Caliente Creek, Tehachapi Mts., Davy 1940. 



Refs. — Sphaeralcea parryi Jepson, Man. 633 (1925). Malvastrum parryi Greene, Fl. Fr. 

 108 (1891), type loc. Monterey Co., Parry. Eremalche parryi Greene, Lflts. 1:208 (1906). 



4. S. palmeri Jepson. Ca^ibria IMallow. Stems stout, herbaceous, markedly 

 and equably leafy to the summit, 6 to 8 feet high; herbage stellate-pubescent, or 

 the leaves glabrous and shiny above; leaf -blades broad- or round-ovate, mostly 3 

 (sometimes 5) -lobed, dentate, truncate or cordate at base, dark green, 1 to 2^ 

 inches long; stipules lanceolate, 2 to 6 lines long; flowers sessile in a terminal head- 

 like cluster, rarely with a small supplementary cyme below, all the clusters dense, 

 1 to 2 inches wide, subtended by conspicuous foliaceous bracts; bractlets linear to 

 ovate, nearly equaling the calyx-lobes; calyx-lobes ovate, acuminate; petals light 

 pink, 7 to 12 lines long, the transverse crests near base with hairy tufts at each 

 end and somewhat hairy in the middle. 



Hill slopes, 50 to 1000 feet : foothills of the Santa Lucia Mts. May-July. 



