MALLOW FAMILY 499 



Locs. — Only two stations are known to us: Bear Valley, San Benito Co., Jepson 12,243; and 

 "Indian Valley", the original station. This Indian Valley would seem to be the one in s. Monterey 

 Co. near the Salinas Eiver (e. of Bradley). In Bull. Cal. Acad. 1:275, for other material col- 

 lected by M. K. Curran, we find locality and date given as "Indian Valley near the Salrnaa" 

 River, June, 1885". This date doubtless identifies the "Indian Valley" cited for Malvastrum 

 aioriginum Rob. — Jos. A. Ewan. 



Refs. — Sphaeralcea aboriginxjm Jepson. Malvastrum aioriginum Rob.; Gray, Syn. Fl, 

 r:311 (1897), type loc. "Indian Valley, M. E. Curran, June, 1885." 



7. S. orbiculata Jepson comb. n. Tehachapi Mallow. Stems erect, 2 to 6 

 feet high, stellate-tomentulose and slightly brownish, the leaves less densely pu- 

 bescent and greenish; leaf -blades round-cordate, dentate, somewhat shallowly or 

 obscurely lobed, % to 2 inches long; flowers in compact or subcapitate clusters 

 consisting of 2 or 3 extremely abbreviated racemes; clusters peduncled or sessile 

 or densely glomerate in the leaf axils and thus forming an interrupted spicate 

 panicle; upper leaves of the panicle reduced to mere bracts or sub-obsolete; bract- 

 lets linear, 2 to 3 lines long; calj^x-lobes ovate, acute to long-acuminate, enervate 

 or 1-nerved on back, 3 to 3^/^ lines long; petals rose-color, changing in age to yel- 

 low, 6 to 7 lines long; carpels glabrous on the back and sides, hairy- tufted and 

 densely tomentulose at apex, 1-nerved on back. 



Dry hill slopes or cavions, 2400 to 6300 feet : mountains bordering the west half 

 of the Mohave Desert. June- Aug. 



Tax. note. — The distribution of Sphaeralcea orbiculata is such as to supplement that of S. 

 densiflora and, if merged with it, to make a natural range. Sphaeralcea orbiculata in fact differs 

 from S. densiflora very slightly; the most critical difference relates to length of pubescence; and 

 it is only by virtue of a concession to the importance that is attached to pubescence in a group 

 where more definite morphological differentiae are weak or lacking that Sphaeralcea orbiculata 

 is here somewhat reluctantly retained in specific status. 



Locs. — Erskine Creek, s. Sierra Nevada, Kern Co., Purpus 5285 ; Mt. Frazier, Elmer 3895 ; 

 Mt. Pinos, Hall 6436 ; Rock Creek, n. side San Gabriel Mts., Peirson 502 ; Cushenbury Sprs., n. side 

 San Bernardino Mts., Parish. 



Var. Clementina Jepson comb. n. Herbage more loosely pubescent, the stellate hairs longer 

 than in the species ; leaves greenish above, canescent beneath ; inflorescence a very dense inter- 

 rupted spike. — Rock crevices: San Clemente Isl. (Lemon Tank, Peirson 3458). 



Refs. — Sphaeralcea orbiculata Jepson. Malvastrum oriiculatum Greene, Fl. Fr. 109 

 (1891), type loc. mountains south of Tehachapi town, Kern Co., Greene. Malveopsis fremontii 

 Dav. Erythea 2:63 (1894) ; not Malvastrum fremontii Torr. (1849). Malacothamnus orMculatus 

 Greene, Lflts. 1:208 (1906). Malvastrum fremontii var. orbiculatum Jtn. PI. "World 22:109 

 (1919). Var. Clementina Jepson. Malvastrum clementinum M, & J. Bull. Torr. Club 51:296 

 (1924), type loc. Lemon Tank, San Clemente Isl., Mum 6684. 



8. S. davidsonii Jepson. Sand Mallow, Stems robust, erect, 6 to 14 feet 

 high; herbage densely stellate-tomentose ; leaf -blades round-cordate, 5-angled or 

 5-lobed, denticulate or crenate, thick, rugose, prominently veined beneath, % to 

 5^ inches long; flowers in short simple or forking racemes, the racemes sessile or 

 usually peduncled, 2 or 3 in each leaf axil, I/2 to 3^/2 inches long, and thus forming 

 an interrupted panicle 12 to 18 inches long; bractlets short; calyx-lobes ovate, 

 acute; petals rose-color, changing in age to yellow, 6 to 7 lines long; carpels gla- 

 brous on the back and sides, hairy-tufted and densely tomentulose at apex, 1-nerved 

 on back. 



Sandy washes or valleys or dry hillsides, 500 to 1500 feet : coastal Southern 

 California from the Ojai Valley to the San Fernando Valley. May- June. 



Locs. — Ojai Valley, PecTcham; San Fernando Valley (Erythea 4:68); La Tuna Canon, 

 Verdugo Hills, MacFadden 2957; La Canada (Abrams, Fl. Los Ang. ed. 2, 229). 



Refs. — Sphaeralcea davidsonii Jepson, Man. 634 (1925). Malvastrum davidsonii Rob.; 

 Gray, Syn. Fl. 1^:312 (1897), type loc. San Fernando Valley, Davidson. Malacothamnus david- 

 sonii Greene, Lflts. 1:208 (1906). Malvastrum splendidum Dav. Erythea 4:68 (1896) ; not M. 

 splendidum Kell. (1855). 



9. S. arcuata Arthur. Canon Mallow. Stems slender, woody below, 2 to 5 

 feet high; herbage covered with a dense or felt-like white tomentum; leaf -blades 

 ovate or ovate-orbicular, dentate, slightly or not at all lobed, truncate at base, more 



