568 MISC. PUBLICATION 42 3, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



17. Blades more or less distinctly lobed, ovate or oblong-ovate, 



more than one-third as wide as long (18). 



18. Pubescence yellowish, scurfy; blades shallowly lobed, 



the lateral lobes usually broad and rounded; petals 



10 to 17 mm. long; column 6 to 8 mm. long; hairs 



of the stem very short, many-rayed. 



8. S. INCANA. 



18. Pubescence grayish or whitish ; blades often deeply cleft, 

 the lateral lobes triangular and acutish; petals 8 to 

 13 mm. long; column 4 to 6 mm. long; or, if the 

 petals and the column longer, then the hairs of the stem 

 relatively long and few-rayed 9. S. fendleri. 



1. Sphaeralcea orcuttii Rose, Contrib. U. S. Natl. Herbarium 1: 289. 



1893. 



Southern Yuma County, 500 feet or lower, abundant, roadsides and 

 fields, usually in sandy soil, March to May. Southwestern Arizona, 

 southeastern California, Sonora, and Baja California. 



Plant annual or biennial, with tall wandlike stem and very 

 numerous small flowers. 



2. Sphaeralcea coulteri (S. Wats.) A. Gray, Amer. Acad. Arts and 



Sci. Proc. 22: 291. 1887. 



Malvastrum coulteri S. Wats., ibid. 11: 125. 1876. 



Pinal, Maricopa, Pima, and Yuma Counties, 2,500 feet or lower, 

 roadsides, fields, and mesas, abundant, usually in sandy soil, February 

 to May. Southwestern Arizona, southeastern California, Sonora, 

 and Sinaloa. 



3. Sphaeralcea emoryi Torr. in A. Gray, Amer. Acad. Arts and Sci. 



Mem. ser. 2, 4: 23. 1849. 



Mohave, Pinal, Maricopa, Pima, and Yuma Counties, 2,500 feet or 

 lower, roadsides and fields, flowering mostly in spring, type from 

 near the mouth of the Gila River {Emory in 1846). Western and 

 southern Arizona, southern Nevada, southeastern California, and 

 northern Baja California. 



A highly variable species, intergrading or perhaps hybridizing 

 frequently with S. ambigua. The corolla is normally red (grenadine), 

 but plants with a pink or lavender corolla are frequent. The more 

 common form, especially in Maricopa, Pinal, and Pima Counties, is 

 var. variabilis (Cockerell) Kearney (S. variabilis Cockerell), with 

 leaf blades distinctly lobed or parted, whereas in typical $. emoryi 

 they are merely angulate or, at most, indistinctly lobed. A narrow- 

 leaved form, var. nevadensis Kearney, has been collected at Silver 

 Lake, Navajo County (Griffiths 2698). A form with very delicate, 

 thin-walled carpels, var. arvda (Rose) Kearney (S. arida Rose), is to 

 be looked for along the Colorado River, in Yuma County. 



4. Sphaeralcea ambigua A. Gray, Amer. Acad. Arts and Sci. Proc. 



22: 292. 1887. 



Mohave, Gila, Pinal, Maricopa, Pima, and Yuma Counties, 3,000 

 feet or lower, dry rocky slopes and edges of sandy washes, February 

 to May. Southwestern Utah to southern California, Sonora, and 

 northern Baja California. 



Desertmallow, apricot-mallow. This is the most xerophytic of the 

 species of Sphaeralcea occurring in Arizona. The stems become 

 woody below and are often very numerous, 100 or more from a single 



