[Illustration]
[Sidenote: =Checker-bloom=
_Sidálcea malvaeflòra_
=Pink
Spring
California=]
A pretty perennial, with several leaning, hairy stems, one or two feet
tall, and dark green leaves. Some plants have perfect flowers, an inch
or more across, often very pale pink, and others have only rudimentary
stamens and smaller flowers, usually deep pink in color, but the plant
is very variable. This is common near the coast. It is sometimes called
Wild Hollyhock.
[Sidenote: =Mallow=
_Sidálcea Neo-Mexicàna_
=Pink
Summer
Ariz., Utah, New Mex., Col., Wyo.=]
This is from one to three feet tall, with smooth, rather dark green
leaves and very pretty, pale purplish-pink flowers with pale-yellow
anthers and pinkish pistil. This grows in the mountains.
There are many kinds of Malvastrum, natives of America and Africa;
perennial herbs or shrubs; the calyx often with three outer bracts; the
stamen-column bearing anthers at the top; the stigmas with round heads.
The name is from the Greek, meaning "star-mallow."
[Sidenote: =Spotted Mallow=
_Malvástrum rotundifòlium_
=Pink
Spring
Southwest=]
A very pretty desert plant, from six to eight inches tall, the coloring
of the flowers, stems, and leaves vivid and oddly contrasting, for
the stems are bright red and hairy, and the leaves stiff, hairy, and
bronze-green in color, while the lovely globe-shaped flowers, which are
over an inch across, are delicately shaded from lilac to rose outside
and paler inside, with conspicuous round blotches of orange-vermilion
at the base of each petal within. The calyx and buds are very hairy,
the petals each have a twist to one side, and the mauve stamens form a
pretty cluster in the center. These flowers last a long time in water,
closing at night and opening again in the morning.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: Spotted Mallow--Malvastrum rotundifolium.]
[Illustration: Checker-bloom--S. malvaeflora.