Eremalche parryi

Parry's mallow

Family: Malvaceae · Type: annual · Native

Parry's mallow is a California native annual found in desert regions, typically growing in open, sandy habitats at elevations of 100 to 1,500 meters. Flowering from March to May, this plant produces delicate white to pale purple flowers with petals 3 to 25 millimeters long. Growing with generally erect stems less than 50 centimeters tall and often featuring ascending basal branches, it is densely covered in stellate (star-shaped) hairs near the stem tips. Its leaves are broadly 2 to 5 centimeters wide, deeply divided into 3 to 5 lobes with each lobe having sharply toothed tips. The distinctive fruit consists of 9 to 22 wedge-shaped segments that form a cushion-like structure with rounded margins.

California counties: Santa Barbara, Kern, Fresno, Ventura, San Joaquin, San Benito, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Alameda, Stanislaus, Kings, Mariposa, Merced, Tulare, Santa Clara, Madera, San Mateo, Modoc, Calaveras, Napa

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