Malva verticillata var. crispa

Crisped mallow, curled mallow, Curled Mallow

Family: Malvaceae · Type: annual · Not Native

Crisped mallow is a naturalized annual found in southern California coastal areas in disturbed, urban places and gardens at elevations below 100 meters. Flowering from May to August, this plant produces white flowers with pale lavender-pink tips, 5 to 7 millimeters long. Growing with erect stems 10 to 20 centimeters tall and sparsely covered in stellate hairs, it develops wavy-margined leaves with typically 5 distinct lobes. Its leaves feature papery stipules approximately 6 millimeters long and curved, with blades generally larger than 5 centimeters. The fruit forms distinctive segments 8 to 11 in number, radially ridged and approximately 3 millimeters across.

Habitat: Disturbed, urban places, gardens

Bloom period: May-Aug

Elevation: < 100 m

Bioregions: SCo, expected elsewhere

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