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Taxon  Report  
Sidalcea sparsifolia  (C. L. Hitchc.) S. R. Hill
Southern checkerbloom
Sidalcea sparsifolia is a perennial herb (rhizomatous) that is native to California.
Siskiyou Del Norte Modoc Humboldt Shasta Lassen Trinity Plumas Tehama Butte Mendocino Glenn Sierra Yuba Lake Nevada Colusa Placer Sutter El Dorado Yolo Alpine Napa Sonoma Sacramento Mono Amador Solano Calaveras Tuolumne San Joaquin Marin Contra Costa Alameda Santa Cruz Mariposa Madera San Francisco San Mateo Merced Fresno Stanislaus Santa Clara Inyo San Benito Tulare Kings Monterey San Bernardino San Luis Obispo Kern Santa Barbara Ventura Los Angeles Riverside Orange San Diego Imperial
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Bloom Period
Genus: Sidalcea
Family: Malvaceae  
Category: angiosperm  
PLANTS group:Dicot
Jepson eFlora section: eudicot

Name Status:
Accepted by JEF + PLANTS

Alternate Names:
PLANTSSidalcea malviflora ssp. sparsifolia var. hirsuta
PLANTSSidalcea malviflora ssp. sparsifolia var. sparsifolia
PLANTSSidalcea malviflora ssp. sparsifolia var. stellata
PLANTSSidalcea malviflora ssp. sparsifolia var. uliginosa
JEF + PLANTSSidalcea malviflora ssp. sparsifolia
...
Information about  Sidalcea sparsifolia from other sources
Nursery availability from CNPLX
Commercial availability unknown.
Jepson eFlora

USDA PLANTS Profile (SISP7)

Photos on Calflora

Photos on CalPhotos

Google Images

Photos on iNaturalist

ID Tips on PlantID.net

[smmtc.org] Blossom Info, Etymology: If rainfall is sparse the plant may not bloom, and an additional bloom is possible if there is a late rain. After the blooms are gone, this plant will die back to the ground. Interesting note about the blooms - they last less than a day before shriveling up. When you see this bloom, keep that in mind and take a moment to appreciate the ephemeral beauty of flowers! Herbaceous (stems are green and flexible) perennial grows up to 80 cm tall. Leaves: deeply lobed, with long stalks (petioles); hirsute (hairy) below, stellate (star like) above. Flowers: in many - flowered racemes (short equal stalks along a central stem), blooms are pink to lilac, often with white veins. I was looking thru my photos and noticed that some plants have Stamens and some do not. Milt's book says Male and Female plants are an identifying trait and of course another book states that the flower is bisexual (having both male and female parts) and that the flower actually aborts the stamens of the upper flowers. Name Origin: Sidal'cea: a combination of two related genera in the Mallow family, Sida and Alcea, which were also two Greek names for mallow (ref. genus Sidalcea) sparsifo'lia/sparsifo'lium: sparsely-leaved Sidalcea malviflora (de Candolle) A. Gray subsp. sparsifolia C. L. Hitchcock, Perenn. Sp. Sidalcea, 32. 1957 (as malvaeflora); S. malviflora var. hirsuta C. L. (link added by Mary Ann Machi)


Suggested Citation
Calflora: Information on California plants for education, research and conservation, with data contributed by public and private institutions and individuals. [web application]. 2024. Berkeley, California: The Calflora Database [a non-profit organization]. Available: https://www.calflora.org/   (Accessed: 12/04/2024).