FIVE SPOT. SPOTTED MALLOW (Malvastrum rotundifolium, 

 Gray). Flowers showy, an inch or so across when expanded, 

 lavender with a prominent reddish-orange spot at the base of 

 each petal; borne in loose clusters in the axils of the leaves. 

 Stigmas spherical. Leaves kidney-shaped, with shallow, 

 toothed lobes and long petioles. An annual plant with red- 

 dish stems, rather hairy, from 6 inches to 2 feet tall, growing 

 in desert sands, Southern California and eastward to Arizona, 

 blooming in March or April. 



Of the many beautiful flowers that enliven the floor of our 

 Southwestern deserts for a brief period in the spring this 

 Malvastrum is one of the most alluring and almost sure to 

 attract the observant traveler's attention. Children are the 

 originators of many common names for wild flowers, and this 

 of Five-Spot, given to our plant by some bright youngsters of 

 my acquaintance, is happily descriptive enough to become 

 permanent. The flowers are shy about expanding fully, and 

 the tendency of the petals to curve inward at the tips causes the 

 blossom to present the appearance of a globe. 



The name False Mallow is commonly applied in books to the 

 various species of Malvastrum, of which there are 8 or 9 indige- 

 nous to the Pacific Coast. The name means Star-mallow. 

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