Descriptive Flora 



135 



GaMrhoe digitata Nutt. Wine Cup. Wild Hollyhock. 



Whole fields sparkle with this flower, the color of rich red 

 wine, and the loveliest of all the mallows. Stems slender, solitary 

 or branched at base, 1 to 2' high, covered with a "bloom". Basal 

 leaves slender, hairy, on petioles as long as the leaves or longer. 

 Blades sessile and rounded or 5 to 7-parted. Stem leaves few, 

 generally palmately divided into linear lobes. Flowers deep red- 

 purple, cherry red or wine-colored, l 1 /^ to 2 inches across. Petals 

 5, frilled at their tips. Stamens numerous, united at base. April 

 and May. Usually growing in big patches along railroad tracks, 

 roadsides and open grounds. Easily distinguished from the 

 species following by the thick perennial roots and the hairy 

 petioles of the basal leaves. 



Callirhoe pedata A. Gray. Wine Cup. 



Similar to Callirhoe digitata but is an annual (lacks the 

 thick perennial roots), petals fringe-toothed at the end, slightly 

 longer (2-2.5cm) instead of 1.5-2cm), leaves mostly from the root, 

 and blades more nearly rounded in outline. Common and wide- 

 spread. Genus receives its name from the Gr. hallirhoe, a spring 

 at Athens. 



Malvmtrum amerioanum (L.) Torr. False Mallow. 



Plants covered with silky, appressed hairs (many 2 to 3 

 forked) and bearing yellow flowers on short stalks in the axils 

 of the leaves. Leaves simple, alternate. Blades broadly ovate to 

 oblong-ovate, (1 to 2y 2 " long), coarsely saw-toothed. Petioles 

 1/3 to y 2 as l° n g as the blades. Petals 5, light yellow, longer 

 than the sepals, expanding about noon. Stamens many, united 

 at base. Fruit flattened, separating into 8 to 12 hairy carpels, 

 each with 2 beaks on the back, similar to the fruit of wine cups 

 but smaller (about y± across). Low ground, sometimes in dry 

 soil. Common. Not attractive. March to fall. 



