Malvella leprosa

Alkali-mallow, white-weed, White-Weed

Family: Malvaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Alkali-mallow is a California native perennial herb found in the Great Valley, typically growing in saline valley habitats at elevations below 1,500 meters. Flowering from April to November, this plant produces cream-white to yellow flowers occasionally tinted with rose, with petals 10 to 15 millimeters long. Growing with decumbent stems 10 to 40 centimeters tall, it is densely covered in white stellate hairs that include both bristly and scale-like textures. Its leaves are 1 to 3.5 centimeters wide, kidney-shaped to triangular, with asymmetric bases and toothed, wavy margins that are also densely white-hairy. The fruit is approximately 7 millimeters in diameter, composed of 7 to 10 segments that are net-veined on the sides.

Habitat: Valleys, generally saline

Bloom period: Apr-Nov

Elevation: < 1500(2500) m

Bioregions: CA (esp GV)

California counties: Contra Costa, Orange, Lake, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Merced, San Diego, Riverside, Alameda, Mono, Solano, Inyo, Santa Clara, Kern, Colusa, Fresno, Ventura, Stanislaus, Sacramento, San Luis Obispo, Madera, Lassen, Imperial, San Mateo, Santa Barbara, Glenn, Monterey, Sutter, Yolo, Kings, Butte, Tehama, San Joaquin, Amador, Siskiyou, San Benito, Napa, Tulare, Sonoma, Santa Cruz

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