Sidalcea gigantea

Giant checkerbloom

Family: Malvaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 4.3

Giant checkerbloom is a California native perennial herb found in northern Sierra Nevada and northern California Ranges in moist to wet forested slopes, seeps, stream margins, and meadows at elevations of 900 to 1,650 meters. Flowering from July to September, this plant produces pale pink flowers in spike-like racemes 14 to 18 centimeters long, with 10 to 20 widely spaced blooms. Growing with impressive erect stems 1.5 to 2 meters tall, sometimes with a purplish cast and densely covered in bristly hairs, it spreads via rhizomes up to 40 to 60 centimeters long. Its large basal leaves are deeply lobed, with lower leaves reaching 11 to 12 centimeters wide, typically rounded and divided into 4 to 5 segments, covered in stellate (star-shaped) hairs. The fruit consists of 7 to 8 segments approximately 3 millimeters long, with a network-like textured surface and a short beak.

Habitat: Moist to wet forested slopes, seeps, stream margins, meadows, mid to upper conifer forest

Bloom period: Jul-Sep

Elevation: (640)900-1650 m

Bioregions: CaRH, n SNH.

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