''Sidalcea hickmanii'' is a species of flowering plant in the
mallow family
Malvaceae, or the mallows, is a family of flowering plants estimated to contain 244 genera with 4225 known species. Well-known members of economic importance include okra, cotton, cacao and durian. There are also some genera containing familiar o ...
known generally by the common name chaparral checkerbloom.
Distribution
''Sidalcea hickmanii'' is
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...
to
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...
, where it grows in the
Central Coast Ranges, the
Transverse Ranges
The Transverse Ranges are a group of mountain ranges of southern California, in the Pacific Coast Ranges physiographic region in North America. The Transverse Ranges begin at the southern end of the California Coast Ranges and lie within San ...
and parts of the northern coast. There are four subspecies, most of which are separated geographically. The plant grows in
chaparral
Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant community and geographical feature found primarily in the U.S. state of California, in southern Oregon, and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. It is shaped by a Mediterrane ...
and other habitat, sometimes on
serpentine soils.
Description
This perennial herb produces a rough-haired stem up to a meter tall with a woody
caudex
A caudex (plural: caudices) of a plant is a Plant stem, stem, but the term is also used to mean a rootstock and particularly a basal stem structure from which new growth arises.pages 456 and 695
In the strict sense of the term, meaning a stem, " ...
at the base. The leaves have wide, fan-shaped blades which have rippled edges or divisions into narrow lobes. The
inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed ...
is an array of several
raceme
A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the sh ...
s of flowers. Each has pinkish to purplish petals up to 2.5 centimeters long.
Subspecies
*''Sidalcea hickmanii'' ssp. ''anomala'' - Cuesta Pass checkerbloom is a rare subspecies known only from the vicinity of the Hwy. 101 Cuesta Pass in the southern
Santa Lucia Mountains
The Santa Lucia Mountains (sæntə luˈsiːə) or Santa Lucia Range is a rugged mountain range in coastal central California, running from Carmel southeast for to the Cuyama River in San Luis Obispo County. The range is never more than fro ...
, in
San Luis Obispo County
San Luis Obispo County (), officially the County of San Luis Obispo, is a county on the Central Coast of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 282,424. The county seat is San Luis Obispo.
Junípero Serra founded the Missio ...
, where it is limited to serpentine substrates. It has deeply lobed to almost compound leaves. While rare it becomes locally abundant in areas recently burned by
wildfire
A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identi ...
.
*''Sidalcea hickmanii'' ssp. ''hickmanii'' - Hickman's checkerbloom is limited to the
Santa Lucia Mountains
The Santa Lucia Mountains (sæntə luˈsiːə) or Santa Lucia Range is a rugged mountain range in coastal central California, running from Carmel southeast for to the Cuyama River in San Luis Obispo County. The range is never more than fro ...
of
Monterey County
Monterey County ( ), officially the County of Monterey, is a county located on the Pacific coast in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, its population was 439,035. The county's largest city and county seat is Salinas.
Monter ...
.
*''Sidalcea hickmanii'' ssp. ''parishii'' - Parish's checkerbloom is a rare subspecies which has a
disjunct distribution
In biology, a taxon with a disjunct distribution is one that has two or more groups that are related but considerably separated from each other geographically. The causes are varied and might demonstrate either the expansion or contraction of a s ...
in the
Transverse Ranges
The Transverse Ranges are a group of mountain ranges of southern California, in the Pacific Coast Ranges physiographic region in North America. The Transverse Ranges begin at the southern end of the California Coast Ranges and lie within San ...
. It is known from the
Santa Ynez Mountains
The Santa Ynez Mountains are a portion of the Transverse Ranges, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges of the west coast of North America. It is the westernmost range in the Transverse Ranges.
The range is a large fault block of Cenozoic age create ...
north of
Santa Barbara, as well as the
San Bernardino Mountains
The San Bernardino Mountains are a high and rugged mountain range in Southern California in the United States. Situated north and northeast of San Bernardino and spanning two California counties, the range tops out at at San Gorgonio Mountain ...
on the inland eastern side of the greater
Los Angeles Basin
The Los Angeles Basin is a sedimentary basin located in Southern California, in a region known as the Peninsular Ranges. The basin is also connected to an anomalous group of east-west trending chains of mountains collectively known as the T ...
area.
California Native Plant Society Rare Plant Profile: ssp. ''parishii''
/ref>
*''Sidalcea hickmanii'' ssp. ''viridis'' - Marin checkerbloom is known from Marin County
Marin County is a county located in the northwestern part of the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 262,231. Its county seat and largest city is San Rafael. Marin County is a ...
and the northern San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...
, several hundred miles from the other subspecies. This subspecies is possibly extinct.
References
External links
Jepson Manual Treatment: ''Sidalcea hickmanii''
USDA Plants Profile: ''Sidalcea hickmanii''
''Sidalcea hickmanii'' — U.C. Photo gallery
hickmanii
Endemic flora of California
Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands
Natural history of the California Coast Ranges
Natural history of the San Francisco Bay Area
Natural history of the Transverse Ranges
Natural history of Marin County, California
Natural history of Monterey County, California
Natural history of San Luis Obispo County, California
Natural history of Santa Barbara County, California
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