Small-leaf globemallow Small-leaf globemallow

Sphaeralcea arizonica A. Heller ex Rydberg; S. marginata York ex Rydberg

Plants perennial. Stems erect, green or gray-green, 1.5–4(–10) dm, white- to yellow-canescent. Leaf blades gray to green, ovate, unlobed or weakly 3–5-lobed, 1–5.5 cm, not rugose, base cuneate to cordate, margins entire or crenate to serrate, surfaces stellate-pubescent. Inflorescences paniculate, crowded, flowers clustered with distinct internodes between clusters, tip not leafy; involucellar bractlets usually green to tan, sometimes red-purple. Flowers: sepals 6–9 mm, tip not forming distinct beak in bud; petals red-orange, 8–14 mm; anthers yellow. Schizocarps ellipsoid; mericarps 12, 3.5–5.5 × 1.5–3 mm, chartaceous, nonreticulate dehiscent part 60–70% of height, with or without apical cusp, indehiscent part not wider than dehiscent part. Seeds 1 per mericarp, gray or black, ± pubescent. 2n = 10, 20.

Flowering summer. Dry slopes; 1500–2100 m; Ariz., Calif., Colo., Nev., N.Mex., Utah.