Malacothamnus fasciculatus var. catalinensis

Santa catalina island bushmallow, Santa Catalina Island Bush-Mallow

Family: Malvaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 4.2

Santa catalina island bushmallow is a rare (CNPS 4.2) California native shrub found in southern Channel Islands on Santa Catalina Island in early-recovering post-burn woody vegetation and edges of openings at elevations of 0 to 505 meters. Flowering from April to June, this plant produces pink to lavender flowers up to 2 centimeters long in dense, interrupted spike-like clusters. Growing to 4 meters tall with a sometimes spreading habit, it features stems covered in intricate stellate hairs with delicate branches less than 0.7 millimeters long. Its bright green leaves are distinctively 3 to 7-lobed with cordate bases, each lobe generally acute and covered in varying densities of stellate hairs that are much sparser on the upper leaf surface. The plant occasionally spreads by rhizomes and can persist in more mature vegetation stages after initial post-burn recovery.

Habitat: Early-recovering post-burn woody vegetation, edges of openings, some plants occasionally persisting into more mature vegetation stages

Bloom period: (Mar)Apr-Jun(Sep)

Elevation: 0-505 m

Bioregions: s ChI (Santa Catalina Island).

California counties: Los Angeles

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