Emory’s globemallow Emory’s globemallow

Sphaeralcea arida Rose; S. emoryi var. arida (Rose) Kearney; S. emoryi var. variabilis (Cockerell) Kearney; S. fendleri A. Gray var. californica Parish; S. fendleri var. variablis (Cockerell) Cockerell; S. variablis Cockerell

Plants perennial. Stems erect, gray to gray-green, to 21 dm, glabrous or coarse-canescent. Leaf blades green to gray-green, ovate-triangular to lanceolate, 3-lobed, 2.5–5.5 cm, not rugose, base cordate to truncate, margins crenate to serrate, surfaces stellate-pubescent. Inflorescences paniculate, proximally open, distally crowded, flowers clustered, tip not leafy; involucellar bractlets green to tan, rarely red. Flowers: sepals 6–8 mm; petals red-orange, pink, or lavender, 10–12 mm; anthers yellow. Schizocarps truncate-conic; mericarps 10–16, 4.5–5 × 2.5 mm, chartaceous, nonreticulate dehiscent part 60% of height, tip acute, indehiscent part not wider than dehiscent part. Seeds 1 or 2 per mericarp, brown or black, pubescent. 2n = 20, 30, 50.

Flowering spring–summer. Roadsides, disturbed areas; (−20–)200–1200 m; Ariz., Calif., Nev.; Mexico (Baja California, Chihuahua, Sinaloa, Sonora).

Sphaeralcea emoryi may intergrade with S. angustifolia and S. laxa.