''Sidalcea glaucescens'' is a species of flowering plant in the mallow family known by the common name waxy checkerbloom.Calflora: ''Sidalcea glaucescens''
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Distribution

It is native to

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, where it grows in the southernmost mountains of the

Cascade Range The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington (state), Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as m ...

and the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...

, its distribution extending just over the border into

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

. It can be found in mountain meadow habitats of yellow pine forest,

red fir ''Abies magnifica'', the red fir or silvertip fir, is a western North American fir, native to the mountains of southwest Oregon and California in the United States. It is a high-elevation tree, typically occurring at elevation, though only rarel ...

forest, lodgepole forest, and subalpine forest.

Description

''Sidalcea glaucescens'' is a perennial herb grows from a thick

taproot A taproot is a large, central, and dominant root from which other roots sprout laterally. Typically a taproot is somewhat straight and very thick, is tapering in shape, and grows directly downward. In some plants, such as the carrot, the taproot ...

and

caudex A caudex (: caudices) of a plant is a 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, "caudex" is most ...

unit, producing a slender, waxy stem up to long. The leaves are deeply divided into about five lobes which may be forked or edged with smaller lobes. The

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

is a loose

panicle In botany, a panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a p ...

of several flowers with pink or purplish petals 1 to 2 centimeters long. The bloom period is June to August.

References

External links

Calflora Database: ''Sidalcea glaucescens'' (Glaucous checker mallow, Waxy checkerbloom, Waxy checkermallow)Jepson Manual eFlora (TJM2) treatment of ''Sidalcea glaucescens''USDA Plants Profile for ''Sidalcea glaucescens''
* glaucescens Flora of California Flora of Nevada Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Flora of the Cascade Range Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Malveae-stub