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Butte County checkerbloom

maple-leaf checkerbloom, maple-leaf sidalcea

Habit Herbs, perennial, (0.5–)0.8–1.2(–1.8) m, glaucous, with caudex and usually well-developed rhizomes to 0.5 mm diam. Herbs, perennial, or subshrubs, (0.4–)0.8–1.5(–2) m, not glaucous, with thick, rather woody caudex or taproot, without rhizomes.
Stems

often single, usually scattered, erect, usually unbranched, solid or somewhat hollow in age, proximally densely, finely stellate-hairy, hairs spreading, distally glaucous, glabrous.

clustered, erect, solid, bristly-hirsute, hairs simple, forked, and stellate.

Leaves

cauline, mostly on abaxially, bristly-hirsute adaxially.

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.

Inflorescences

erect, open, calyces not conspicuously overlapping except sometimes in bud, usually unbranched, loosely 10+-flowered, flowers 1+ cm apart, elongate, sometimes 1-sided, 30–40(–45) cm;

bracts inconspicuous, lanceolate to linear, distal unlobed, 2–4 mm, proximal divided ± to base, 4–6 mm, usually equaling or shorter than pedicels.

Pedicels

2–5 mm;

involucellar bractlets absent.

Flowers

usually bisexual, sometimes pistillate, plants gynodioecious;

calyx 10–15 mm, uniformly, densely stellate-puberulent;

petals: bisexual pale pink, often drying yellowish, pale-veined or not, base pale pink to white, (15–)20–35 mm, pistillate usually darker purple, base white, 5(–10) mm;

staminal column 6–8 mm, hairy;

anthers white;

stigmas (6 or)7 or 8.

Seeds

2–2.5 mm.

1–1.5 mm.

Schizocarps

6–8 mm diam.;

mericarps (6 or)7 or 8, 3–3.5 mm, usually glabrous or very sparsely glandular-puberulent, distinctly narrowly wing-margined dorsally, sides lightly reticulate-veined, pitted, back less so, mucro 0.3–0.5 mm.

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.

2n

= 20.

= 20.

Sidalcea robusta

Sidalcea malachroides

Phenology Flowering Apr–May(–Jun). Flowering May–Jul(–Aug).
Habitat Dry banks in chaparral at ecotone with foothill woodlands, often basaltic soil, with Quercus douglasii Woodlands, redwood forests, moist clearings near coast
Elevation 100–400(–1300) m (300–1300(–4300) ft) 20–700 m (100–2300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; OR
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Of conservation concern.

Sidalcea robusta is one of the taller species of Sidalcea and can be distinguished also by its relatively long inflorescences with widely-spaced, showy flowers, its limited range, and its winged mericarps are notable. Rare and threatened by development, it is known from Butte County in the southern Cascade Range foothills and the northern Sierra Nevada foothills.

(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.)

Source FNA vol. 6, p. 353. FNA vol. 6, p. 340.
Parent taxa Malvaceae > subfam. Malvoideae > Sidalcea Malvaceae > subfam. Malvoideae > Sidalcea
Sibling taxa
S. asprella, S. calycosa, S. campestris, S. candida, S. celata, S. covillei, S. cusickii, S. diploscypha, S. elegans, S. gigantea, S. glaucescens, S. hartwegii, S. hendersonii, S. hickmanii, S. hirsuta, S. hirtipes, S. keckii, S. malachroides, S. malviflora, S. multifida, S. nelsoniana, S. neomexicana, S. oregana, S. pedata, S. ranunculacea, S. reptans, S. setosa, S. sparsifolia, S. stipularis, S. virgata
S. asprella, S. calycosa, S. campestris, S. candida, S. celata, S. covillei, S. cusickii, S. diploscypha, S. elegans, S. gigantea, S. glaucescens, S. hartwegii, S. hendersonii, S. hickmanii, S. hirsuta, S. hirtipes, S. keckii, S. malviflora, S. multifida, S. nelsoniana, S. neomexicana, S. oregana, S. pedata, S. ranunculacea, S. reptans, S. robusta, S. setosa, S. sparsifolia, S. stipularis, S. virgata
Synonyms S. asprella var. robusta Malva malachroides, Hesperalcea malachroides, S. vitifolia
Name authority A. Heller ex Roush: Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 18: 205. (1931) (Hooker & Arnott) A. Gray: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 7: 332. (1868)
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