Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum Digital Library

Description

Desert globemallow is a short-lived subshrub; many stems with slightly woody bases arise from near ground level grow up to 3 feet (1 m) long. The stems grow in all directions from erect to horizontal forming a hemispherical mound when growing in the open. The triangular leaves are gray-hairy. Goblet-shaped flowers are about ¾ of an inch (20 mm) across. Throughout most of its range the flowers are apricot-colored to bright orange. Scattered populations with pink, lavender, red, or white flowers comprise the variety rosacea (Parish mallow). Plants flower profusely in spring and sparsely at other times following rains.

Range

Desert globemallow is common in the deserts of California and Arizona and from Utah into Mexico.

Notes

There are several species of Sphaeralcea in the Sonoran Desert, and only experts on the genus can distinguish them with confidence. Sphaeralcea laxa, “caliche globemallow,” is most often confused with S. ambigua. These two perennial species can be distinguished only by microscopic examination of the seeds. Sphaeralcea emoryi and coulteri are winter annuals that are usually shorter and less branched than are the two perennial species.

Like the Spanish name, the O'odham name also means “sore eyes”; the name should be taken seriously. The very wet winter of 1998 produced huge fields of globemallows 5 feet (1.5 m) tall in many desert areas. On a Desert Museum expedition to Baja California we drove through a patch on a warm day with the windows down. The road was so narrow that the side mirrors slapped the mallows on both sides of the vehicle. Our resultant misery reminded us that stellate hairs probably evolved to discourage herbivores.

The mallows number about 1500 species worldwide; most are characterized by alternate, simple, palmate leaves with stellate (branched, star-shaped) hairs. Mallow flowers are easily recognized by the filaments, which are united into a tube surrounding the style. Familiar examples include hibiscus, cotton, okra, and hollyhock.