Sidalcea calycosa
| Sidalcea calycosa | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| (unranked): | Rosids |
| Order: | Malvales |
| Family: | Malvaceae |
| Genus: | Sidalcea |
| Species: | S. calycosa |
| Binomial name | |
| Sidalcea calycosa M.E.Jones | |
Sidalcea calycosa is a species of flowering plant in the mallow family known by the common name annual checkerbloom. It is endemic to California, where it grows in wetland habitat of many kinds along the North Coast, the adjacent North Coast Ranges as far south as the San Francisco Bay Area, and in sections of the Sierra Nevada foothills. Habitat types include marshes and vernal pools. This is a rhizomatous herb growing 30 centimeters to nearly a meter tall. Despite its common name it may be annual or perennial, depending on subspecies. The leaves have blades deeply divided into narrow linear lobes, almost divided into leaflets. The inflorescence is a dense, showy panicle of several flowers each with five pink, purplish, or white petals up to 2.5 centimeters long.
There are two subspecies of this plant. The perennial subspecies, ssp. rhizomata (Point Reyes checkerbloom), is rare, known only from a few swampy areas of the coastline between Mendocino and Marin Counties.[1]