Plant Name
Scientific Name: Modiola caroliniana
Synonym: Modiola multifida
Common Names: Carolina Bristlemallow, Carolina Modiola, Bristle Mallow, Creeping Mallow, Wheel Mallow, Ground Ivy
Plant Characteristics
Duration: Annual, Biennial, Perennial
Growth Habit: Subshrub, Herb/Forb
Arizona Native Status: Native
Habitat: Desert, Riparian. This weed typically grows in urban lawns and gardens and in disturbed areas where it can get some extra water.
Flower Color: Reddish pink, pinkish orange
Flowering Season: Spring, Summer
Height: Prostrate, sprawls to 2 feet (61 cm) wide
Description: The flowers are borne singly in the leaf axils. The individual flowers have 5 broad petals. The flowers are followed by wheel-shaped fruit with 2 spines at the edge of each wheel section. The fruit is initially green but matures to black. The leaves have toothed margins, 3 to 7 narrow to broad lobes, and are variably reniform (kidney-shaped), round, or triangular in shape. The plants are low-growing and spreading.
Special Characteristics
Poisonous – This plant is poisonous, so do not allow animals to graze on it.
Classification
Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Dilleniidae
Order: Malvales
Family: Malvaceae – Mallow family
Genus: Modiola Moench – bristlemallow
Species: Modiola caroliniana (L.) G. Don – Carolina bristlemallow
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