Juniper globemallow Juniper globemallow

Malvastrum digitatum Greene, Leafl. Bot. Observ. Crit. 1: 154. 1905; Sphaeralcea digitata var. angustiloba (A. Gray) Shinners; S. digitata subsp. tenuipes (Wooton & Standley) Kearney; S. digitata var. tenuipes Wooton & Standley) Kearney & Peebles; S. pedata Torrey ex A. Gray var. angustiloba A. Gray; S. tenuipes Wooton & Standley

Plants perennial. Stems decumbent to erect, green to gray-green, (1–)3–4(–5.5) dm, sparsely pubescent. Leaf blades green to gray-green, wide-triangular, 3-lobed or pedately divided, (0.5–)1.5–2.5(–4) cm, not rugose, base cuneate, margins entire, surfaces stellate-pubescent. Inflorescences racemose, flowers solitary or proximal nodes 2- or 3-flowered, tip ± leafless; involucellar bractlets green to tan. Flowers: sepals 3.5–8 mm; petals red-orange, 8–14 mm; anthers purple. Schizocarps cylindric to widely conic; mericarps 9–13, 3–5 × 2–2.5 mm, thickish, chartaceous, nonreticulate dehiscent part 50–60% of height, tip muticous to short-cuspidate, indehiscent part not wider than dehiscent part, sides finely, not highly reticulate. Seeds 1(or 2) per mericarp, brown or black, glabrous or pubescent. 2n = 10.

Flowering spring–summer. Diverse substrates including gypsum, desert scrub; 1200–2200 m; Ariz., N.Mex., Tex., Utah; Mexico (Chihuahua, Sonora).