Malacothamnus marrubioides

Santa clarita bushmallow

Family: Malvaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 4.2

Santa clarita bushmallow is a California native shrub found in the Sierra Nevada Foothills, San Joaquin Valley, southern San Francisco Bay, western Transverse Ranges, San Gabriel Mountains, and Peninsular Ranges in early-recovering post-burn woody vegetation and edges of openings at elevations of 55 to 1,170 meters. Flowering from May to June, this plant produces pale flowers with delicate petals up to 1.5 centimeters long. Growing as a compact shrub up to 2 meters tall, it spreads occasionally by rhizomes and is densely covered in stellate hairs that completely obscure the stem's surface. Its leaves are rounded to widely ovate, sometimes subtly 3 to 5-lobed, with surfaces ranging from ashy to bright green and a distinctive stellate hair coverage that is denser on the leaf undersides. The plant features linear to awl-shaped bracts surrounding its spike-like inflorescence, with green to partially red bractlets that add visual complexity to its structure.

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

Bloom period: (Apr)May-Jun(Jul)

Elevation: 55-1170 m

Bioregions: SNF, SnJV, s SnFrB, WTR, SnGb, PR

California counties: Los Angeles, Ventura, Kern, Inyo, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Alameda

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