Sphaeralcea fendleri – Fendler's Globemallow

Sphaeralcea fendleri - Fendler's Globemallow, Thicket Globe-mallow

Sphaeralcea fendleri - Fendler's Globemallow, Thicket Globe-mallow

Plant Name

Scientific Name: Sphaeralcea fendleri

Common Names: Fendler's Globemallow, Thicket Globe-mallow

Plant Characteristics

Duration: Perennial

Growth Habit: Subshrub, Herb/Forb

Arizona Native Status: Native

Habitat: Desert (upper elevation foothill canyons), Upland, Mountain

Flower Color: Pink, Pinkish lavender, Orange

Flowering Season: Spring, Summer, Fall

Height: To 4 feet (1.2 m) tall

Description: The flowers are on tall, slender, graceful flower stalks. The flowers are 1 1/2 inches (3.8 cm) wide and have 5 broad, fan-shaped, uncupped, notched petals and yellow anthers. The petals are held wide open, almost flat unlike the cupped petals of typical globemallows. The leaves are green, hairy, uncrinkled, unruffled, variably scalloped, usually 3-lobed, and elongated to about twice as long as wide.

The similar Desert Globemallow (Sphaeralcea ambigua) has broader, shorter, scalloped and ruffled leaves, Emory's Globemallow (Sphaeralcea emoryi) has thickened, densely hairy, crinkled, grayish green leaves, and Caliche Globemallow (Sphaeralcea laxa) is much lower growing and has broader, shorter leaves and flowers with dark maroon anthers.

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: Sphaeralcea A. St.-Hil. – globemallow
Species: Sphaeralcea fendleri A. Gray – Fendler's globemallow

More About This Plant

Arizona County Distribution Map