WILD HOLLYHOCK (Siddlcea humilis, Gray). Flowers pink 

 or rose-purple, rather showy, in terminal racemes or spikes; 

 the column of stamens usually in two series, the outer of 5 

 distinct clusters of stamens, the inner or terminal one of about 

 10 sets. Calyx without bractlets at base. Basal leaves 

 round with rounded teeth or shallow lobes, the stem leaves 

 deeply cut into about 7 fingers, with 3-lobed divisions. A 

 rather hairy perennial with numerous stems 8 inches to 2 feet 

 long, from a woody stock or root; blooming from February 

 until May, and common on grassy hills and mesas of the Cali- 

 fornia Coast region from San Diego north. 



Mingled with plants as described above, one will also find 

 some upon which the deep-colored flowers are smaller and with 

 stamens which are without developed anthers. The children's 

 name of Wild Hollyhock for the flower is fairly descriptive, 

 and not far astray, since hollyhocks, while of a different genus, 

 are still of the same family. The genus Sidalcea is confined 

 to our West, and there are about a dozen species on the Pacific 

 Coast, but none so common as S. humilis. They are of diffi- 

 cult determination. 



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