Sidalcea elegans

Greene

Cybele Columb. 1: 35. 1914.

Common names: Del Norte checkerbloom
Endemic
Synonyms: Sidalcea malviflora subsp. elegans (Greene) C. L. Hitchcock
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 6. Treatment on page 331. Mentioned on page 324, 325, 326, 332, 333, 356.

Herbs, perennial, 0.2–0.6 (–0.8) m, sometimes ± glaucous, with woody taproot or caudex and rhizomes, freely rooting, 20–30 cm × 2–4 mm, often mat-forming, forming clones often 1–8 m2. Stems scattered, erect to ascending, base decumbent to erect, usually rooting freely, solid, proximally hairy or glabrate, hairs soft, simple and stellate, distally brittle, easily broken, glabrous-glaucous. Leaves mostly basal or cauline 3 or 4 on proximal 1/3 of stem, much reduced; stipules wide-lanceolate to ovate, 3–4 × 1–1.5 mm; petioles of proximal leaves 6–12 cm, 2–4 times as long as blades in basal leaves, those of cauline leaves greatly reduced to 1/2 times or as long as blades; blade rounded to reniform, palmately (3–) 5–7-lobed, usually (1–) 2–5 (–10) × (1–) 2–5 (–10) cm, apex rounded, surfaces: abaxial harshly stellate-hairy, adaxial usually simple-haired, basal blades shallowly incised, lobes with 3 deep crenations, cauline blades usually deeply 3–5 (–7) -lobed nearly to base, lobe margins dentate or entire. Inflorescences ascending, open, calyces not conspicuously overlapping except sometimes in bud, unbranched or few-branched, loosely (3–) 5–10 (–20) -flowered, not greatly elongated, 1-sided, 10–20 cm; bracts narrowly elliptic, shallowly 2-fid, proximal bracts divided to base and often with leaf remnant between, 3–4 mm, usually shorter than to equaling pedicels. Pedicels 3–4 (–10) mm; involucellar bractlets absent. Flowers bisexual or unisexual and pistillate, plants gynodioecious; calyx 7–10 mm, slightly enlarged in fruit, uniformly, coarsely stellate-puberulent (some rays sometimes longer than others); petals dark-pink, pale-veined at least when dry, pistillate 10–15 (–20) mm, bisexual 20–25 (–33) mm; staminal column 4–5 mm, sparsely hairy; anthers white to pale-pink; stigmas 6 or 7 (or 8). Schizocarps 6–7 mm diam.; mericarps 6 or 7 (or 8), 3–3.5 mm, back not ribbed, roughened, sides and back strongly reticulate-veined-rugose and pitted (honeycomblike), top minutely glandularpuberulent, mucro 0.8–1 mm. Seeds 2 mm. 2n = 40, 60.


Phenology: Flowering (May–)Jun–Jul(–Sep).
Habitat: Open, dry woodlands, usually on serpentine
Elevation: 100–200(–900) m

Discussion

Sidalcea elegans has been included within S. malviflora; it is easily distinguished by its relatively long, slender, shallow rhizomes; open, one-sided inflorescences; and thin, brittle stems. It resembles S. glaucescens in its leaves and inflorescence and is easily distinguished by its rhizomes and soft, simple hairs at the stem base. It has been confused with S. asprella, from which it is distinguished by its simple, flexible hairs at the stem base and by its more developed and elongated rhizomes and variable leaves. Sidalcea elegans occurs in northwestern California and southwestern Oregon.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.

"elongated" is not a number."elongated" is not a number.

... more about "Sidalcea elegans"
white +  and pale-pink +
rounded +
Steven R. Hill +
Greene +
solid +  and rooting +
decumbent +  and erect +
glabrate +  and hairy +
asymmetric +  and symmetric +
5 cm50 mm <br />0.05 m <br /> (10 cm100 mm <br />0.1 m <br />) +
5 cm50 mm <br />0.05 m <br /> (10 cm100 mm <br />0.1 m <br />) +
2 cm20 mm <br />0.02 m <br /> (5 cm50 mm <br />0.05 m <br />) +
(3-)5-7-lobed +, rounded +  and reniform +
2 cm20 mm <br />0.02 m <br /> (5 cm50 mm <br />0.05 m <br />) +
(3-)5-10(-20)-flowered +, few-branched +  and unbranched +
overlapping +
stellate-puberulent +
enlarged +
0.7 cm7 mm <br />0.007 m <br /> (1 cm10 mm <br />0.01 m <br />) +
indehiscent +  and loculicidal +
3-5(-7)-lobed +
Del Norte checkerbloom +
Calif. +  and Oreg. +
100–200(–900) m +
sparse;copious +
unisexual +  and bisexual +
Open, dry woodlands, usually on serpentine +
glabrous-glaucous +
axillary +  and terminal +
tough-fibrous +
connate +  and distinct +
simple +, stipulate +, sessile +, subsessile +  and petiolate +
distichous +  and alternate +
2-4 times as long as blades +
6 cm60 mm <br />0.06 m <br /> (12 cm120 mm <br />0.12 m <br />) +
proximal +, cauline +  and basal +
reduced +
entire +  and serrate +
wedge--shaped +
0.3 cm3 mm <br />0.003 m <br /> (0.35 cm3.5 mm <br />0.0035 m <br />) +
0.08 cm0.8 mm <br />8.0e-4 m <br /> (0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br />) +
3-40-carpellate +
(1-)2-many +
0.4 cm4 mm <br />0.004 m <br /> (1 cm10 mm <br />0.01 m <br />) +
0.3 cm3 mm <br />0.003 m <br /> (0.4 cm4 mm <br />0.004 m <br />) +
pistillate +  and pale-veined +
2.5 cm25 mm <br />0.025 m <br /> (3.3 cm33 mm <br />0.033 m <br />) +
adnate +  and distinct +
2 cm20 mm <br />0.02 m <br /> (2.5 cm25 mm <br />0.025 m <br />) +
Flowering (May–)Jun–Jul(–Sep). +
0.3 cm3 mm <br />0.003 m <br /> (0.4 cm4 mm <br />0.004 m <br />) +
Cybele Columb. +
6mm +  and 7mm +
hairy +  and glabrous +
reniform +
2 cm20 mm <br />0.02 m <br /> (?) +
persistent +
pitted;reticulate-veined-rugose +
sessile +  and subsessile +
0.4 cm4 mm <br />0.004 m <br /> (0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br />) +
erect;ascending +
7 +  and 6 +
filiform +, linear +  and capitate +
1-2 times number of carpels +
0.3 cm3 mm <br />0.003 m <br /> (0.4 cm4 mm <br />0.004 m <br />) +
wide-lanceolate +  and ovate +
0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br /> (0.15 cm1.5 mm <br />0.0015 m <br />) +
unbranched +  and branched +
Sidalcea malviflora subsp. elegans +
Sidalcea elegans +
Sidalcea +
species +
60 cm600 mm <br />0.6 m <br /> (80 cm800 mm <br />0.8 m <br />) +
plant +, herb +  and mat-forming +
20 cm200 mm <br />0.2 m <br /> (30 cm300 mm <br />0.3 m <br />) +
2mm +  and 4mm +