Munro’s globemallow Munro’s globemallow

Malva munroana Douglas ex Lindley, Edward’s Bot. Reg. 16: plate 1306. 1830; M. creeana Graham; Malvastrum munroanum (Douglas ex Lindley) A. Gray; Malveopsis munroana (Douglas ex Lindley) Kuntze; Nuttallia munroana (Douglas ex Lindley) Nuttall; Sphaeralcea munroana subsp. subrhomboidea (Rydberg) Kearney; S. munroana var. subrhomboidea (Rydberg) Kearney; S. subrhomboidea Rydberg

Plants perennial. Stems erect, green to gray-green, 2.5–9 dm, gray-green canescent. Leaf blades green to gray-green, triangular, unlobed or weakly 5-lobed, to 4.5 cm, not rugose, base cuneate to truncate, margins coarsely toothed, surfaces stellate-pubescent. Inflorescences narrowly paniculate, crowded, few–many-flowered, flowers in clusters, tip not leafy; involucellar bractlets green to tan. Flowers: sepals 4–9 mm, tips forming weak beak in bud; petals red-orange, 11–14 mm; anthers yellow. Schizocarps spheric; mericarps 12, 3.5–4 × 2.5–3 mm, chartaceous, nonreticulate dehiscent part 55% of height, tip acute, with reflexed apical cusp, indehiscent part not wider than dehiscent part. Seeds 1 per mericarp, brown, slightly hairy.

Flowering spring–summer. Xeric plains and slopes; 100–2300 m; B.C.; Calif., Idaho, Mont., Nev., Oreg., Utah, Wash., Wyo.

Sphaeralcea munroana and S. parvifolia are difficult to distinguish and may be conspecific. Sphaeralcea parvifolia is more southern and smaller overall; S. munroana is more northern and more robust.