Desert five-spot Desert five-spot

Malvastrum rotundifolium A. Gray, Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts. 7: 333. 1868; Sphaeralcea rotundifolia (A. Gray) Jepson

Plants erect; main stem unbranched or branched from base, spotted or flushed purple-maroon, 8–30(–60) cm, sparsely or densely hairy, hairs mostly simple, bristly, to 3 mm. Leaf blades unlobed, 1.5–6 cm, margins crenate-dentate. Inflorescences usually exceeding leaves. Pedicels 1.5–8 cm; involucellar bractlets filiform, 6–10 mm. Flowers: calyx 9–14 mm, lobes 5.5–11 × 3.5–7 mm; petals rose-pink to lilac, magenta-spotted at base, (15–)20–30 mm, exceeding calyx. Mericarps 25–36, black, waferlike edges acute, reticulate, 2.8–3.5 mm. 2n = 20.

Flowering mid winter–late spring. Dry desert scrub; −50–1200 m; Ariz., Calif., Nev., Utah; Mexico (Baja California, Sonora).

Eremalche rotundifolia is morphologically and perhaps generically distinct from the other species of Eremalche; it occurs widely in the Mojave and Sonoran deserts and in Death Valley.