WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

These 3–foot tall plants with showy white flowers can form dense colonies in wet areas. Note the terminal rounded cluster of 2–inch-wide, hibiscus-like flowers, and the long, lance-shaped to narrow segments of the palmate stem leaves.

FLOWERS: May–September. Terminal spike-like clusters of buds with several flowers booming at once; 5 white to pinkish, oval petals with narrow bases, 1/2–1-inch long (12–25 mm). Note the white stamen column tipped with numerous reddish anthers.

LEAVES: Alternate on long stems (petioles). Blade 2–8-inches wide (6–20 cm) and palmately divided into lobes (like spokes around a hub). Lower leaves rounded with 5–7 shallow lobes, margins toothed; upper leaves with 3–7 narrow segments, margins entire.

HABITAT: Wet gravel, clay loam soils, riparian areas, ditches, bogs, meadows; ponderosa-Douglas fir forests.

ELEVATION: 6,000–10,000 feet.

RANGE: AZ, CO, NM, NV, UT, WY.

SIMILAR SPECIES: New Mexico Checkermallow, Sidalcea neomexicana, in much the same range and habitat, has pink to lavender flowers.

NM COUNTIES: Northern and south-central NM in mid- to high-elevation, wet habitats: Bernalillo, Cibola, Colfax, Guadalupe, Lincoln, Los alamos, Mora, Otero, Rio Arriba, San Miguel, Sandoval, Santa Fe, Taos.