Herbs, perennial, 0.1–0.8 m, not glaucous, with thick, woody taproot or caudex, without rhizomes. Stems several to many (ca. 3–20+), clustered, erect to ascending, branched or unbranched, solid, usually densely stellate-canescent. Leaves cauline, evenly arrayed on stem, usually similar in size, shape; stipules linear-lanceolate to ovate, 2–9 × 1–3 mm, widest above base, width sometimes exceeding stem diam.; petiole 0.6–3(–9) cm, 1/2–3 times as long as blade, apex often with pulvinus; blade orbiculate or reniform to flabelliform, unlobed and margins coarsely crenate to shallowly or deeply lobed, 1–7 × 1–7 cm, usually wider than long, base truncate or cordate, apex rounded, surfaces stellate-hairy. Inflorescences erect, infrequently ascending, usually spiciform, dense or open, calyces overlapping or not, branched or unbranched, 2–20+-flowered, proximal flowers scattered, usually more congested distally, not notably elongate in flower, not 1-sided, (1.5–)3–25 cm, usually longer in fruit; bracts linear to ovate-lanceolate or oblong, undivided, 2-fid, or divided, 2–8(–12) mm, not involucrelike, distal entire to 2-fid, stipulelike, proximalmost not involucrelike, divided to base, much shorter than to nearly equaling calyx. Pedicels 1–4(–5) mm; involucellar bractlets (2 or)3, 2–10 mm, shorter to slightly longer than calyx. Flowers usually bisexual, infrequently unisexual and pistillate; calyx 4–12 mm, densely to sparsely stellate-puberulent to long-bristly; petals usually pale pink to pink-lavender, rarely white, veins not conspicuously whitened, 5–17 mm; staminal column 4–7 mm, hairy; anthers white to pale pinkish or pale yellow; stigmas (4–)6 or 7(–10). Schizocarps 4–7 mm diam.; mericarps usually (4–)6 or 7(–10), (1.5–)2–2.5 mm, glabrous, sides usually smooth, thin, margins and back usually lightly reticulate-veined, transversely corrugated, back usually with medial, raised line, not pitted, mucro absent. Seeds 1–2 mm.

Subspecies 7 (7 in the flora): w United States.

Sidalcea hickmanii is found in isolated populations from southern California to southwestern Oregon and appears to have a relict distribution. K. Andreasen and B. G. Baldwin (2001, 2003) suggested that it is basal within Sidalcea. It is distinctive in having three (normally two in subsp. petraea) involucellar bractlets attached to the calyx, no mucro on the mericarps, and leaves that are almost the same size and shape throughout the stem. Each subspecies apparently represents a distinct relictual colony; the sexuality of these is not well known because of the paucity of specimens. As in many sidalceas, this species in particular appears to be fire-dependent.

Lower Taxa

• Sidalcea hickmanii subsp. anomala C. L. Hitchcock
• Sidalcea hickmanii subsp. hickmanii
• Sidalcea hickmanii subsp. napensis S. R. Hill
• Sidalcea hickmanii subsp. parishii (B. L. Robinson) C. L. Hitchcock
• Sidalcea hickmanii subsp. petraea S. R. Hill & Halse
• Sidalcea hickmanii subsp. pillsburiensis S. R. Hill
• Sidalcea hickmanii subsp. viridis C. L. Hitchcock