MALLOW FAMILY 503 



Mesas and washes, 25 to 1500 feet : San Bernardino Valley; north side of Colo- 

 rado Desert; eastern Mohave Desert. Maj^-Nov. 



Locs. — Colton, Parish 2846; Eedlands, Parish 4613; Upland, Parish 11,174; Indio, Jepson 

 6037; Pleasant Valley, s. of Twenty-nine Palms, Clary; Hayfields, Chuckwalla Mts., Clary 447; 

 Palo Verde Valley, Jepson 5263 ; Lavic, e. Mohave Desert, Jepson 15,450. 



Eefs. — Sphaeralcea fendleri Gray, PI. "Wright. 1:21 (1852), type loc. El Paso, Tex., 

 Fendler. Var. californica Parish, Zoe 5:71 (1900), type loc. Colton, San Bernardino Co., 

 Parish 2846; Jepson, Man. 635 (1925). 



16. S. ambigua Gray. Apricot Mallow. Stems often suffruteseent, several 

 or many from the base, usually unbranched or simple above, erect or spreading, 

 forming roundish clusters 1% to 3 feet high, 1 to 4 feet broad; herbage finely but 

 densely stellate-puberulent, or the stems whitish or yellowish-tomentulose; leaf- 

 blades cordate to round-ovate, crenate, scarcely or not at all lobed to strongly 

 3-lobed or somewhat 5-lobed, % to 1^/2 (or ^Vo) inches long, mostly as broad as 

 long or somewhat broader; calyx 3 to 4 lines long, usually surpassing the fruit; 

 bractlets filiform, hardly longer than calyx-tube; petals rose-red to brick-red, 

 notched at apex, 5 to 10 lines long, the claws with a dense ciliate tuft of hairs on 

 each side at base; stigmas black or purple; fruit globose-ovoid, 21^ lines high; 

 carpels often cuspidate, the sides glabrous, smooth-chartaceous opposite the upper 

 seed, reticulate-scarious opposite the lower seed, canescent on the back. 



Arid plains and ranges in or bordering the deserts, 500 to 7600 feet : Inyo Co.; 

 Mohave and Colorado deserts; San Bernardino Mts. to the Laguna Mts. East to 

 Arizona. May-July. 



Locs. — Inyo Co.: Andrews Camp, w. Inyo Co., E. Brandegee ; Maturango Peak, Purpus 5448; 

 Emigrant Caiion, Panamint Eange, Jepson 14,081; Black Canon, White Mts. (s. end), Duran 

 2623. Mohave Desert: Cima, Jepson 15,846; Ludlow, Newlon 520; Ord Mt., Jepson 5856; Bar- 

 stow, Jepson 5837 ; Kramer, Jepson 5324 ; Shays Well, Jepson 5961 ; Twenty-nine Palms, T. Bran- 

 degee. Colorado Desert: Cottonwood Spr., Cottonwood Mts., n. of Mecca, Jepson 12,616; Painted 

 Caiion, Mecca Hills, Jepson 11,649 ; County Well, n. of Indio, Jepson 6029 ; Palm Sprs. of San 

 Jacinto, Parish 408 ; Deep Canon, Santa Eosa Mts., Clary 786 ; Palm Canon of San Ysidro, Jepson 

 8809; San Felipe Valley, e. San Diego Co., Jepson 12,452; Vallecito, e, San Diego Co., Jepson 

 8625. Cismontane S. Cal.: upper Santa Ana Canon, Hall 7532; San Jacinto, Jepson 1247. 



Var. aculeata Jepson var. n. Leaf-blades ovate-oblong, usually 3-lol3ed and subhastate, 

 the middle lobe elongate ; bracts inconspicuous, the lower f oliaceous but much reduced, the upper 

 usually obsolete; carpels 3 to 3^4 lines long, tipped with a short erect cusp. — (Folia ovato- 

 oblonga, plerumque 3-lobata et subhastata, loba media elongata; carpella lin. 3-3 ^/^ longa, cuspi- 

 data.) — Mohave Desert: West Palmdale, Davy 2293 (type) ; Bissell sta., K. Brandegee ; Barstow, 

 K. Brandegee. The following are less typical: Kramer, K. Brandegee ; Cima, K. Brandegee ; 

 Providence Mts., T. Brandegee (cusps nearly obsolete). 



Var. pulchella Jepson comb. n. Calyx rusty-pubescent ; petals % to 1 inch long ; carpels 

 smooth on sides or only faintly reticulate at base, densely woolly on back. — Caiions and mountain 

 sides, 4000 to 6000 feet: Panamint Eange; Argus Mts., Wheeler 4" Eichardson; Coso Mts., Eall 

 4- Chandler 7108. 



Var. keckii Munz. Flowers large; calyx 8 to 9 lines long; petals 1 to 1^ inches long. — 

 Chuckwalla Mts. 



Eefs. — Sphaeralcea ambigua Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. 22:292 (1886); Jepson, Man. 634 

 (1925). This binomial rests on S. emoryi Torr. Bot. Ives 8 (1860), "Big Caiion of the Colorado" 

 (Eiver), Netvbcrry; not S. emoryi Torr. in Gray, Mem. Am. Acad. 4:23 (1849) and PI. Wright. 

 21 (1852). Var. aculeata Jepson. Var. pulchella Jepson. S. pulchella Jepson, Man. 635 

 (1925), type loc. Hanaupah Canon, Panamint Eange, Jepson 7064. Var. keckii Munz, Bull. S. 

 Cal. Acad. 31:68 (1932), type loc. Corn Sprs., Mum 4 Keck 4835. 



17. S. rosacea M. & J. Parish Mallow. Similar to S. ambigua ; stems white- 

 pubescent or glabrate ; leaves usually scantily pubescent, usually dark green, thin- 

 nish; panicles looser; corolla pink. 



Washes or canons, in rocky or sandy soil, 500 to 2500 feet : mountains on west 

 side of the Colorado Desert from the San Jacinto Mts. to the Laguna Mts. Apr. 



Note on variation. — The leaf -blades vary in size from % to 2% inches long, from grayish- 

 pubescent to bright green, from cordate-ovate and subentire to cordate-ovate and 5-lobed, and 

 are either rugose or not rugose. In its leaves S. ambigua shows a parallel range of variation. 



