Scientific Family
Malvaceae
Other common names
sore-eye poppy
globemallow
desert mallow
desert hollyhock
Plant type
Forbs and Subshrubs
Origin
Native
Lifecycle
Perennial
Similar species
Sphaeralcea emoryi
Height
To 40 inches
Riparian
No
A very drought tolerant, multi-stemmed perennial that grows in large rounded clumps. Stems with gray-green rounded, lobed leaves and topped with open long-branched stems of orange flowers.
Woody-based subshrubs, erect stems few to numerous. Leaves are lobed, but not deeply divided, wider than long, wavy margins, grayish-green, hairy. Bright 5-petaled bowl shaped orange-red flowers are spaced openly along long stalks.
Habitat
Deserts, roadsides, flat areas and banks of sandy washes. Only occasionally as high as 5000 feet, usually below 3500 feet.
Plant Community
Interior Chaparral
Grasslands
Disturbed Areas
Desert Scrub
Low elevation
0
High elevation
5000
Flower Characteristics
Flower colors vary with white, pink, purplish or reddish hues. Has 5 petals to 1-1/2 inches wide developing in clusters along the upper stems. Individual flowers have 3 green sepals.
Flower color
Orange
Flower shape
Regular
Tubular
No
First bloom month
March
Last bloom month
June
Flower clusters
Elongated
Leaf and Stem Characteristics
Leaves are triangular with 3 lobes with scalloped edges. To 2-1/2 inches long and wide.
Leaf type
Simple
Leaf color
Grayish-green
Leaf shape
Triangular
Leaf margin
Lobed
Leaves clasp
No
Leaf hairs
Leaves
Spines
No
Fruit and Seed Characteristics
Brown dry fruits (schizocarps) split into separate one-seeded segments at maturity.
Fruit type
Other
Fruit color
Brown
Immature seeds are at first quite spherical as implied by the genus name, later flattening to a disk.