Alcea rosea

Hollyhock

Family: Malvaceae · Type: perennial · Not Native

Hollyhock is a naturalized perennial found in the San Francisco Bay Area and southwestern California in disturbed places at elevations below 1,100 meters. Flowering from June to August, this plant produces large showy flowers 8 to 10 centimeters in diameter in colors ranging from white to deep pink and burgundy. Growing with tall, unbranched stems 1 to 2.5 meters high that are initially stellate-hairy and become nearly smooth with age, it develops a robust and stately garden presence. Its large leaves measure 7 to 15 centimeters wide, with a heart-shaped or round blade that is weakly palmate-lobed and covered in stellate hairs. The fruit forms disk-like segments with horseshoe-shaped edges, each approximately 6 millimeters long and lightly winged.

Habitat: Uncommon. Disturbed places

Bloom period: Jun-Aug

Elevation: especially < 1100 m

Bioregions: SnFrB, SW

California counties: Los Angeles, San Bernardino, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Tulare, Siskiyou, Alameda, Santa Clara, Placer, Modoc, Ventura, San Joaquin, Yolo, Solano

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.