Erect to trailing stems, often tangled or vine-like, reach 4–16 inches tall with heart- to lance-shaped, hairy leaves and a single small, orange flower growing from the leaf axils. Note the flower has 5 rounded petals and an erect stamen column with numerous yellow-orange anthers.

FLOWER: April–October (with sufficient moisture). Solitary flowers emerge from the leaf axils on slender stems (peduncles) longer than the leaves; flowers symmetrical, shallow, with 5 rounded petals, each about 3/8 inch wide (1 cm), and 5 green, pointed sepals that bend backwards in fruit. Fruit is a hairy, cylindrical capsule 3/8 inch long (1 cm) with 5 pointed segments.

LEAVES: Alternate. Blades broadly oval 3/8–2 inches long (1–5 cm),  with a heart-shaped base and a pointed to tapering tip; margins coarsely toothed, surfaces covered with fine, scattered, star-shaped hairs.

HABITAT: Dry sandy, rocky soils; mesas, canyons, drainages, slopes, scrub lands; desert grasslands and scrub, pinyon-juniper woodlands.

ELEVATION: 4,000–6,200 feet.

RANGE: AZ, CA, CO, NM, NV, TX, UT.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Shrubby Indian Mallow, A. incanum, in southern NM, reaches 3 feet tall and has densely hairy leaves and yellow flowers with a dark red center. Yellow Indian Mallow, A. malacum, also in southern NM, has flowers is clusters.

NM COUNTIES: In eastern and southern NM in low- to mid-elevation, dry habitats: Bernalillo, Chaves, Dona Ana, Eddy, Grant, Guadalupe, Hidalgo, Lincoln, Luna, Otero, San Miguel, Sandoval, Sierra, Socorro, Union.