Scientific Family
Malvaceae
Plant type
Forbs and Subshrubs
Origin
Native
Lifecycle
Perennial
Height
4 to 24 inches
Riparian
No
Perennial herb or sub-shrub with trailing branches, grows from a woody root and produces multi-branched stems. Stems are covered with fine star-shaped hairs.
Petals 1/8 to 1/4 inches, orange to pink to red; fruit segments generally 5, longer than the calyx; stems trailing with tips ascending.
Habitat
Dry plains and rocky arid slopes.
Plant Community
Pinyon Juniper Woodlands
Interior Chaparral
Grasslands
Desert Scrub
Low elevation
2500
High elevation
5500
Flower Characteristics
The small flowers emerge singly from the leaf axils and have 5 fan-shaped or rounded petals, a hairless staminal (male) column, yellow-orange anthers and 5 green, point-tipped sepals that become reflexed (bent backwards) as the fruit develops.
Flower color
Yellow to orange to pink to red
Flower shape
Regular
Tubular
No
First bloom month
April
Last bloom month
October
Flower clusters
None
Leaf and Stem Characteristics
The leaves are up to 2 inches long, alternate, heart-shaped, coarsely toothed and finely covered with star-shaped hairs. The stems are slender, branched, hairy and erect or trailing.
Leaf type
Simple
Leaf color
Grayish-green
Leaf shape
Triangular
Leaf margin
Toothed
Leaves clasp
No
Leaf hairs
Leaves & stems
Spines
No
Fruit and Seed Characteristics
The flowers are followed by fuzzy, rounded capsules with 5 or rarely 6 beaked segments.
Fruit type
Capsule
Fruit color
Brown
Seeds are light brown, hairy and heart shaped.