Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses - Scarlet globe mallow

SCARLET GLOBE MALLOW

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Sphaeralcea coccinea (Pursh ) Rydb.

Logan County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 4-14 inches

Family: Malvaceae - Mallow Family

Flowering Period: May, June, July, August

Also Called:

Red false mallow.

Stems:

Decumbent, ascending or erect, simple to clustered, freely branching, covered with silver-gray, star-shaped hairs.

Leaves:

Alternate, simple, short-stalked, circular to ovate in outline, 1 to 2.5 inches long, usually wider than long, deeply palmately 3-5-divided, covered with silver-gray, star-shaped hairs; segments irregularly lobed; margins entire; tips pointed to rounded.

Inflorescences:

Racemes, few- to several-flowered, 1 to 4.5 inches long, terminal.

Flowers:

Calyces 5-lobed, lobes narrowly triangular, densely hairy; corollas to 3/4 inch wide, brick red, salmon-pink or reddish orange; petals 5, 1/3 to 3/4 inch long; tips sometimes notched; stamens numerous, yellow, united into column.

Fruits:

10-15, kidney-shaped, wrinkled, 1-seeded segments covered with star-shaped hairs; seeds small.

Habitat:

Dry open prairie areas, most abundant in sandy or gravelly soils.

Distribution:

West 2/3 of Kansas.

Forage Value:

Deer and pronghorn antelope graze it more frequently than do livestock.

Uses:

The Navajo used the roots during periods of food shortage. Some Plains Indian tribes applied chewed parts of the plant to sores.

Comments:

Scarlet globe mallow is highly drought resistant.