Duration: Annual

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Subshrub

General: Erect annual or biennial to 120 cm tall, densely stellate-tomentulose with yellowish-canescent, 12-20 rayed hairs; stipules lance-subulate, 5-7 mm long, caducous.

Leaves: Stout petioles, 1-3 cm long, leaf blades deltoid-ovate, 2-4 cm wide, 3-6 cm long, shallowly 3-lobed near base with rounded lobes, subcordate to truncate, irregularly crenulate on margins, rugose or nearly plane, moderately to densely stellate-tomentulose on both surfaces, canescent.

Flowers: Inflorescence narrow, many flowered, glomerate thyrse or elongate lower branches racemose; pedicels 5 mm long, some subsessile, calyx densely stellate-puberulent, 4.5-6.5 mm long at anthesis; lobes ovate, acuminate, 3-4 mm long, petals orange to flame-scarlet, 8-12 mm long.

Fruits: Hemispherical, usually 3 mm high, 4-6 mm in diameter prominently reticulate-fenestrate.

Ecology: Found on sandy desert flats and rocky slopes below 1,000 ft (305 ); flowers March-May.

Notes: Plant notable for being annual or biennial, with tall, wandlike stems and many small flowers.

Ethnobotany: Unknown, but other species in this genus have many uses.

Etymology: Sphaeralcea is from Greek sphaira, a globe, and alcea, a related genus, while orcuttii is named for Charles Russell Orcutt (1864-1929).

Synonyms: None

Editor: SBuckley, 2010