Horsfordia newberryi

Newberry's velvet-mallow

Family: Malvaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 4.3

Newberry's velvet-mallow is a California native shrub found in the western Sonoran Desert and Peninsular Ranges in creosote-bush scrub at elevations of 100 to 800 meters. Flowering from March to April and November to December, this plant produces pale yellow flowers with styles around 10 millimeters long. Growing to 2 to 3 meters tall with a distinctive yellow stem, it has narrowly ovate leaves 4 to 10 centimeters long with fine teeth and a truncate to slightly heart-shaped base. Its leaves have petioles significantly shorter than the leaf blade, with leaf tips ranging from obtuse to acute. The fruit is approximately 7 to 9 millimeters in diameter, generally purple on top with about 10 segments that are partially filled with seeds.

Habitat: Creosote-bush scrub

Bloom period: Mar-Apr, Nov--Dec

Elevation: generally 100-800 m

Bioregions: PR, w DSon

California counties: Riverside, San Diego, Imperial, San Benito

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