Sidalcea hickmanii |
Sidalcea glaucescens |
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chaparral checkerbloom, Hickman's checkerbloom |
glaucous checker mallow, waxy checker mallow, waxy checkerbloom |
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Habit | Herbs, perennial, 0.1–0.8 m, not glaucous, with thick, woody taproot or caudex, without rhizomes. | Herbs, perennial, 0.2–0.5(–0.7) m, glaucous, with taproot and caudex, without rhizomes. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Stems | several to many (ca. 3–20+), clustered, erect to ascending, branched or unbranched, solid, usually densely stellate-canescent. |
usually few to many, clustered, sprawling or decumbent to ascending, rarely erect, not rooting, solid, glaucous, proximally usually stellate-puberulent, sometimes glabrous, distally glabrous. |
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Leaves | cauline, evenly arrayed on stem, usually similar in size, shape; stipules linear-lanceolate to ovate, 2–9 × 1–3 mm, widest above base, width sometimes exceeding stem diam.; petiole 0.6–3(–9) cm, 1/2–3 times as long as blade, apex often with pulvinus; blade orbiculate or reniform to flabelliform, unlobed and margins coarsely crenate to shallowly or deeply lobed, 1–7 × 1–7 cm, usually wider than long, base truncate or cordate, apex rounded, surfaces stellate-hairy. |
basal and cauline, basal leaves 9 or fewer or deciduous; stipules lanceolate, (2–)3–5(–6) × 0.5–1.5 mm; petioles of basal and proximal cauline leaves 6–14 cm, 3–4 times as long as blades, reduced distally to 1/2 times to as long as blades; blade reniform-orbiculate, palmately 5(–7)-lobed, deeply incised, 2–6(–8) × 2–6(–8) cm, glaucous, surfaces glabrous or minutely stellate-puberulent, lobes shallowly dentate, more deeply divided on distal leaves, margins entire, distalmost sometimes linear, unlobed. |
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Inflorescences | erect, infrequently ascending, usually spiciform, dense or open, calyces overlapping or not, branched or unbranched, 2–20+-flowered, proximal flowers scattered, usually more congested distally, not notably elongate in flower, not 1-sided, (1.5–)3–25 cm, usually longer in fruit; bracts linear to ovate-lanceolate or oblong, undivided, 2-fid, or divided, 2–8(–12) mm, not involucrelike, distal entire to 2-fid, stipulelike, proximalmost not involucrelike, divided to base, much shorter than to nearly equaling calyx. |
ascending, open, calyces not conspicuously overlapping except sometimes in bud, usually unbranched, 3–10(–20)-flowered, elongate, 1-sided, 8–20 cm, axis curved between flowers, sometimes zigzag in appearance; bracts linear to lanceolate, distinct or connate and 2-fid, 5 mm, proximal divided to base, distal often undivided, shorter than to equaling pedicels. |
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Pedicels | 1–4(–5) mm; involucellar bractlets (2 or)3, 2–10 mm, shorter to slightly longer than calyx. |
2–3(–10) mm; involucellar bractlets absent. |
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Flowers | usually bisexual, infrequently unisexual and pistillate; calyx 4–12 mm, densely to sparsely stellate-puberulent to long-bristly; petals usually pale pink to pink-lavender, rarely white, veins not conspicuously whitened, 5–17 mm; staminal column 4–7 mm, hairy; anthers white to pale pinkish or pale yellow; stigmas (4–)6 or 7(–10). |
bisexual or unisexual and pistillate, plants gynodioecious; calyx 5–10 mm, enlarging in fruit, hairy, hairs scattered, minute, stellate and sometimes capitate, glandular; petals pink to pink-purple, pale-veined at least when dry, pistillate (7–)9–12 mm, bisexual 15–20(–25) mm; staminal column 4–7 mm, stellate-hairy; anthers pale yellow or pinkish to white; stigmas 6–8. |
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Seeds | 1–2 mm. |
2 mm. |
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Schizocarps | 4–7 mm diam.; mericarps usually (4–)6 or 7(–10), (1.5–)2–2.5 mm, glabrous, sides usually smooth, thin, margins and back usually lightly reticulate-veined, transversely corrugated, back usually with medial, raised line, not pitted, mucro absent. |
5–7 mm diam.; mericarps 6–8, 3–3.5 mm, roughened, sides reticulate-veined and deeply pitted, back reticulate-veined and glandular-puberulent, mucro 0.3–1 mm. |
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2n | = 40. |
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Sidalcea hickmanii |
Sidalcea glaucescens |
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Phenology | Flowering (May–)Jun–Aug(–Sep). | |||||||||||||||||||||
Habitat | Dry, grassy meadows, open, usually red fir, juniper, or ponderosa pine forests, often serpentine | |||||||||||||||||||||
Elevation | (900–)1500–3000 m ((3000–)4900–9800 ft) | |||||||||||||||||||||
Distribution |
CA; OR
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CA; NV
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Discussion | Sidalcea hickmanii is found in isolated populations from southern California to southwestern Oregon and appears to have a relict distribution. K. Andreasen and B. G. Baldwin (2001, 2003) suggested that it is basal within Sidalcea. It is distinctive in having three (normally two in subsp. petraea) involucellar bractlets attached to the calyx, no mucro on the mericarps, and leaves that are almost the same size and shape throughout the stem. Each subspecies apparently represents a distinct relictual colony; the sexuality of these is not well known because of the paucity of specimens. As in many sidalceas, this species in particular appears to be fire-dependent. Subspecies 7 (7 in the flora). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Sidalcea glaucescens is a relatively common, generally low-growing plant of relatively high elevations; it occurs from the central and northern Sierra Nevada to the southern Cascade and Klamath ranges and to north of Reno, Nevada. It usually can be distinguished by its highly glaucous, waxy stems and leaves, 3–5-lobed, entire-margined leaves, and basal leaves that wither by the time fruit is mature; additionally, proximal flowers are spaced several centimeters apart and leafy-bracted, and the inflorescence axis is curved between flowers. It has been confused with S. asprella, S. elegans, and S. multifida, to which it appears to be closely related. It can generally be distinguished from S. multifida by its 5(–7)-lobed leaves, the lobes shallowly incised or entire, its nonpersisting, fewer basal leaves, and its more-procumbent habit. Sidalcea elegans and S. virgata in southwestern Oregon also have been confused with S. glaucescens. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 6, p. 334. | FNA vol. 6, p. 333. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Synonyms | S. montana | |||||||||||||||||||||
Name authority | Greene: Pittonia 1: 139. (1887) | Greene: Bull. Calif. Acad. Sci. 1: 77. (1885) | ||||||||||||||||||||
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