MUNZ AND JOHNSTON: PLANTS OF CALIFORNIA—II = 353 
Sphaeralcea rosacea sp. nov. 
A shrubby perennial forming loose clumps 10-15 dm. hich: 
stems ashy, stellate-tomentose, slender; ascending, virgate: 
leaves remote, ovate- or oblong-cordate and somewhat three- 
lobed, doubly crenate, stellate-pubescent but greener above, 
— usually 2-2.8 cm. long and 1.5-2.5 cm. wide, petioles 
~—20 mm. long; inflorescence a very loose open —— = 
m. long, the ascending branches remote and o 
Deed: ‘calyx stellate-tomentose, at anthesis Hen mim. high 
and 5~7 mm. wide, sins lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate lobes, 
at fruiting 10-14 mm. long, bractlets setaceous, deciduous, 
mm. long; 3-20 long: petals pinkish when 
fons h but drying a rose-violet, 17-21 mm. long, claw densely 
villous-ciliate; fruit much depressed, etallnteteabeorea: carpels 
one-seeded, about 3. 5 mm. high, oblong in outline, sides smooth 
or at least not reticulate, seminiferous only below, the upper 
half thinner and scarious. 
Type: Palm Springs, April 2, 1917, Alice B. Chittenden 
(Herb. Cal. Acad.). 
A very ornamental species that is known to us only from 
the vicinity of Palm Springs, Riverside County, where it is a 
common plant in rocky ground in the canyons opening into the 
Colorado Desert. Besides the type we have seen a collection 
by Parish, No. 4109, and one by Johnston. This plant is the 
“‘purple-flowered form of S. ambigua,’’ which is mentioned by 
Robinson (Synop. Fl. 1: 315. 1897) in his review of the genus. 
Though it has long passed as a form of S. ambigua, it is amply 
distinct and probably not even an immediate relative of that 
species, differing from it in habit and stature; in size, color 
and disposition of flowers; and in shape and texture of leaves. 
When we first saw the two species growing together, as they 
commonly do about Palm Springs, we never once thought 
of associating the two plants under one name; in fact, basing 
determination on superficial resemblances, the new species was 
taken to be a species of Malvastrum. The proposed species 
bears a considerable resemblance to certain of the shrubby mal- 
vastrums, having more or less woody stems and similarly colored 
flowers, but the technical characters of the carpels definitely 
ally it with Sphaeralcea. 
VIOLA SHELTONI Torr. 
Viola Sheltoni Torr. Pac. R. R. Rep. 4:67. pl. 2. 1856. 
