Sidalcea keckii
Sidalcea malachroides
Keck's checkerbloom
maple-leaf checkerbloom, maple-leaf sidalcea
single, erect, sometimes branched distally, solid, short-stellate-puberulent and long, soft bristly-hairy, distally with multicellular trichomes intermixed, hairs erect.
clustered, erect, solid, bristly-hirsute, hairs simple, forked, and stellate.
cauline, 3–5 per stem;
stipules linear-filiform, undivided or rarely few-divided in robust plants, 3–5 × 1 mm;
petiole 2–4.5(–6) cm, usually 1–2 times as long as blade;
blades: proximalmost orbiculate, unlobed, 1–2.5 × 1–2.5 cm, base cordate with narrow sinus, margins crenate, apex rounded;
other proximals rounded, unlobed or shallowly palmately 7–9-lobed, 2.5–4.8(–6) × 2.5–4.8(–6) cm, margins coarsely crenate, sinus wide to narrow, surfaces stellate-hairy;
distals gradually reduced, orbiculate, more deeply 3-lobed, 1.5–2.5 × 1.5–2.5 cm, lobes obovate, apically widened to nearly truncate and narrowed to base, margins entire, apex 2–5-toothed, teeth subequal.
cauline, evenly arrayed on stem, similar in size and shape;
stipules linear-lanceolate, 5–15 × 0.5 mm;
petioles 4–7 cm on distal leaves, 1/2 times to as long as blades, longer on proximal leaves;
blade maplelike, usually palmately (3–)5–7- 7–15 mm, pistillate 6–7 mm, bisexual or staminate 10–12 mm;
staminal column 5–7 mm, hairy;
anthers white to pale purplish or pale yellowish;
stigmas 5–9.
erect to ascending, usually open, calyces not overlapping except possibly in bud, unbranched or infrequently branched, 5–12-flowered per branch, not especially elongate, usually 1-sided, 5–10 cm, to 5–15 cm in fruit, 1/2 times plant height;
bracts linear-filiform, undivided or rarely few-divided in robust plants, (3–)7–11 mm, longer than pedicels, usually much shorter than calyx, not involucrelike, densely stellate-hairy and pilose-hirsute.
2–4 mm, to 5–6 mm in fruit;
involucellar bractlets absent.
bisexual;
calyx 8–10 mm, to 11–14 mm in fruit, lobe base within with conspicuous, purplish spot 1–2 mm wide, hairy, hairs glandular and non-glandular, multicellular as in inflorescence;
petals dark pink, without pale veins, with or without reddish basal spot, 10–22(–26) mm;
filaments connate to apex of tube;
staminal column 3–5 mm, hairy, hairs relatively long, simple;
anthers white;
stigmas 4 or 5.
1.5–2 mm.
1–1.5 mm.
5–7 mm diam.;
mericarps 4 or 5, usually tinted pink when fresh, 3–4 mm, usually glabrous, back reticulate-veined, pitted, with prominent midvein, mucro absent but with 1–5 minute bristles in its place.
5–6 mm diam.;
mericarps 5–9, 2.5 mm, glabrous or sparsely stellate-hairy, margins rounded, back ridged, sides smooth or with slight corrugations near margins, not pitted, mucro absent.
= 20.
Sidalcea keckii
Sidalcea malachroides
Sidalcea keckii, federally listed as endangered, was once thought to have been extirpated (S. R. Hill 1993); it was rediscovered in 1992. It appears to have occurred historically in at least seven counties; extant populations are thought to be very few. It is found in the southern inner North Coast Ranges in Colusa, Napa, Solano, and Yolo counties, and in the Sierra Nevada foothills in Fresno, Merced, and Tulare counties. It is closely related and similar to S. diploscypha and is often mistaken for that species; differences between the two are discussed under 8. S. diploscypha. Some plants of S. keckii in Colusa, Solano, and Yolo counties have divided bracts like those of S. diploscypha. Sidalcea keckii is vulnerable to agricultural and residential land development.
Of conservation concern.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Sidalcea malachroides has long been considered to be the basal or so-called most ancient extant species of Sidalcea based on its morphology (E. M. F. Roush 1931; C. L. Hitchcock 1957). Molecular data support this conclusion (K. Andreasen and B. G. Baldwin 2001, 2003). These robust plants are distinguished by maplelike leaves that vary little in size and shape from base to apex of the stem, by relatively numerous, relatively small flowers with white or pale pink petals in dense, spiciform clusters on branched inflorescences, and by the coastal habitat. Formerly, it occurred in widely scattered sites from Monterey County, California, to Curry County, Oregon; fewer populations are extant; it has sometimes been cultivated. It is usually found in clearings and disturbed areas; it is threatened by logging and associated road usage, development, and non-native plant competition.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
CA
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
OR
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
