Sphaeralcea coccinea
Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 40: 58. 1913.
Plants perennial, rhizomatous. Stems 3–6, ascending or decumbent, light green to grayish, 1–3(–5) dm, stellate-canescent. Leaf blades green to gray-green, broadly to elongate-deltate, 3–5-lobed or pedately divided with relatively broad lobes, midlobe and often primary side-divisions pinnately few-cleft to parted, spatulate to narrowly spatulate, 1–6 cm, not rugose, base cuneate, margins entire, surfaces stellate-canescent. Inflorescences racemose or paniculate, crowded, few–many flowered, tip not leafy; involucellar bractlets deciduous, green to gray-green. Flowers: sepals 5–10 mm; petals red-orange, 5–20 mm; anthers yellow. Schizocarps flattened spheric-conic; mericarps 10–14, 3–3.5 × 2.5–3 mm, thick, coriaceous, nonreticulate dehiscent part 10–35% of height, muticous, indehiscent part usually wider than dehiscent part. Seeds 1 per mericarp, gray to black, ± glabrous.
Distribution
Alta., B.C., Man., Sask., Ariz., Colo., Idaho, Iowa, Kans., Mont., N.Dak., N.Mex., Nebr., Okla., S.Dak., Tex., Utah, Wyo., n Mexico.
Discussion
Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).
Sphaeralcea coccinea is variable; it is one of the first sphaeralceas to bloom and is commonly found on roadsides.
Selected References
Key
| 1 | Leaf blades: midlobe ± equaling secondary lobes. | Sphaeralcea coccinea var. coccinea |
| 1 | Leaf blades: midlobe longer than secondary lobes. | Sphaeralcea coccinea var. elata |