The five Sphaeralcea species shown on this page enjoy hot and dry conditions.  Sphaeralcea coccinea and Sphaeralcea parvifolia often spread over large areas putting on a very eye-catching wildflower show.

    Because of hybridization, identification to the species level can be difficult.

    "Sphaer" is Greek for "a sphere or globe" and "alcea" is Greek for "a mallow" and is the scientific name of the present day garden Hollyhock.

Sphaeralcea coccinea (Scarlet Globemallow)
Malvaceae (Mallow Family)

Semi-desert, foothills. Disturbed areas, woodlands, openings. Spring, summer.
Above: Lower Cross Canyon, Utah, April 17, 2020; Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, April 21, 2016; and Mud Springs Area near McElmo Canyon, May 24, 2010.

Sphaeralcea coccinea (Scarlet Globemallow)
Malvaceae (Mallow Family)

Semi-desert, foothills. Disturbed areas, woodlands, openings. Spring, summer.
Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, April 20, 2013; Near Yellowjacket Canyon, June 11, 2005 and May 29, 2004.

Sphaeralcea coccinea is a very common plant of the low foothills and semi-desert regions.  It loves sandy, dry, open ground and occurs as scattered, taller, multiple-stemmed plants (as shown in the top photograph at left) or, much more commonly in the Four Corners region, it forms colonies of short, single-stemmed plants from its spreading roots, as shown immediately above.

Plants range from four to sixteen inches tall and from a distance the taller plants look very much like S. parvifolia or S. grossulariifolia.

Leaves of S. coccinea are relatively round in outline, and they are typically cut in 3-5 main divisions which are also cut into several divisions. Leaves appear a silver green because they are covered with fine, white stellate hairs. Be sure to take a look at the leaves with a hand lens.

Thomas Nuttall, famed 18th century botanist and Harvard instructor, collected this species "From the River Platte to the Rocky Mountains" in 1811 and named the plant Malva coccinea. However, Meriwether Lewis collected this species July 20, 1806 along the Marias River in Montana. Click to read why Lewis' collection is not considered the type. 

Per Axel Rydberg renamed the species Sphaeralcea coccinea in 1913.

"Coccin" is Latin for "scarlet".

Semi-desert, foothills. Disturbed areas, woodlands, openings. Spring, summer.
Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, April 21, 2016 and May 23, 2011.

The petals of Sphaeralcea coccinea and Sphaeralcea grossulariifolia (see below) flowers are about the same size, 11-22 millimeters.  The flowers of S. leptophylla and S. parvifolia are about 8-13 millimeters.

Sphaeralcea coccinea (Scarlet Globemallow)
Malvaceae (Mallow Family) 

Semi-desert, foothills. Disturbed areas, woodlands, openings. Spring, summer.
Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, May 23, 2011.

Plants of the Sphaeralcea genus are clothed in stellate (starburst) hairs.

Sphaeralcea coccinea (Scarlet Globemallow)
Malvaceae (Mallow Family) 

Semi-desert, foothills. Disturbed areas, woodlands, openings. Spring, summer.
Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, May 23, 2011.

Even in seed, the plant retains its hairiness.

Semi-desert, foothills. Woodlands, openings, disturbed areas. Spring, summer, fall.
Durango West II Natural Area, August 24, 2021.

Sphaeralcea fendleri grows to four feet tall with single stems and many plants near each other. Both flowers and leaves are well spaced along the sturdy stem giving the plant a very airy appearance.

The inflorescence of Sphaeralcea fendleri is said to be a thyrse by some experts, a panicle by others; both of these inflorescences are modified racemes. However, as shown here, several flower pedicels arise from the same stem node; they do not branch off of a peduncle as would be needed for a thyrse or panicle. The inflorescence is therefore more of a raceme-umbel.

Sphaeralcea fendleri (Fendler's Globemallow)
Malvaceae (Mallow Family) 

Semi-desert, foothills. Woodlands, openings, disturbed areas, . Spring, summer, fall.
Durango West II Natural Area, August 24, 2021.

Sphaeralcea fendleri leaf shape, size, and texture as shown here is typical, but the center lobe may be much shorter. The gray/green color of upper and lower leaf surfaces and stems is due to a thick mat of thousands of minute stellate hairs.

Semi-desert, foothills. Sand and rock areas, openings. Spring.
Lower Butler Wash, Utah, April 20, 2017 and
East of Bluff, Utah, April 21, 2017.

Sphaeralcea grossulariifolia and Sphaeralcea coccinea are, especially from a distance, very similar looking. Utah flora expert, Stanley Welsh states, "some specimens [of S. coccinea) approach if not pass into S. grossulariifolia...."  Both can grow to nearly two feet tall with a number of stems spread in an airy bouquet; leaves are very similar; and the two species commonly grow in similar habitats. A closer examination shows similarities in hairiness and various plant measurements, but when one looks at the inflorescence, the difference is apparent: the flowers of S. coccinea are in a raceme, i.e., they are single and attached to the main stem by a short petiole. The flowers of S. grossulariifolia are commonly in a branched raceme, i.e., several flowers occur together.

Sphaeralcea grossulariifolia was not discovered in Colorado until about 2004 and it is known from just a few locations there.  It is, as the map below indicates, wide-spread in the other Four Corners states.

Sphaeralcea grossulariifolia was named Sida grossulariaefolia by William Jackson Hooker and George Arnot in 1838 from a collection made by members of the Hudson Bay Company in Idaho in 1837.  Per Axel Rydberg gave the present name in 1913. 

The specific epithet, "grossulariifolia" refers to some perceived resemblance of the foliage of this plant to that of some member(s) of the genus Grossularia (now Ribes) in the Gooseberry Family, scientifically called Grossulariaceae.  The family and genus were named by Augustin de Candolle in the early 1800s, sometime prior to the 1838 naming of this species.

Sphaeralcea grossulariifolia (Gooseberry-leaf Globemallow)
Malvaceae (Mallow Family) 

Semi-desert, foothills. Sand and rock areas, openings. Spring.
Above and left: East of Bluff, Utah, April 21, 2017.

The Sphaeralcea grossulariifolia shown at left and above had been flowering for nearly two weeks when I took these photographs and they probably continued flowering for at least another three or four weeks.

Each group of flowers elongates adding more flowers. The red arrows in the photograph immediately above show that flowering stems branch several times. Sphaeralcea coccinea flowering stems do not branch; each flower is attached to the main stem by a very short petiole.

Sphaeralcea grossulariifolia (Gooseberry-leaf Globemallow)
Malvaceae (Mallow Family) 

Semi-desert, foothills. Disturbed areas, woodlands, openings. Spring, summer.
Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, May 23, 2011.

Leaves are deeply cut into divisions in a pattern very similar to the leaves of S. coccinea.

Semi-desert. Sandy areas, woodlands, openings. Spring, summer.
Above: Lower Cross Canyon, Utah, May 22, 2023.
Left: Lower Butler Wash, Utah, May 3, 2007.

Sphaeralcea leptophylla enjoys loose, sandy soils in all the Four Corners states and grows from eight to twenty-five inches tall with many flowers on many stems.

The crowded masses of stems are evident for weeks before flower stems grow with minute spheres that will open to attractive orange flowers. Notice a number of straw-colored stems from last year's growth.

Charles Wright first collected this species in 1851 near El Paso, Texas, and Asa Gray named it Malvastrum leptophyllum in 1852. It was renamed Sphaeralcea leptophylla in 1913 by Per Axel Rydberg.  The Greek "lepto" + "phylla" means "fine-leaved".

Semi-desert. Sandy areas, woodlands, openings. Spring, summer.
Lower Butler Wash, Utah, May 3, 2007.

Semi-desert. Sandy areas, woodlands, openings. Spring, summer.
Lower Cross Canyon, Utah, May 22, 2023.

Sphaeralcea leptophylla is easily distinguished from the other Sphaeralcea shown on this page by its linear (narrow with parallel sides) leaves. Lower leaves are three-parted in a palmate manner and upper leaves are often simple.

Stems and leaves have a gray-green cast from a myriad of stellate hairs. (See above for Sphaeralcea coccinea and Sphaeralcea fendleri photographs of these hairs.) 

Semi-desert, foothills. Woodlands, openings. Spring, summer.
Hunter Canyon Trail, Utah, May 2, 2005.

Semi-desert, foothills. Woodlands, openings. Spring, summer.
Hunter Canyon Trail, Utah, May 2, 2005.

In contrast to S. coccinea, S. parvifolia has wavy-edged, broadly triangular, lobed leaves.

As the photograph immediately above indicates, the species has long flower stems and can grow to over three feet tall and four feet wide in almost a shrub structure.

Semi-desert, foothills. Woodlands, openings. Spring, summer.
Cedar Mesa, Utah, June 11, 2004.
Corona Trail, Utah, June 7, 2007.

Symmetry of flowers is replaced by symmetry of seed pods.

Aven Nelson named this species in 1904 from a specimen collected by Leslie Goodding in Nevada in 1902.  "Parvifolia" is Latin for "small leaved".

Semi-desert, foothills. Woodlands, openings. Spring, summer.
Along the Colorado River, Utah, May 4, 2005.

Range map © John Kartesz,
Floristic Synthesis of North America

State Color Key

Species present in state and native
Species present in state and exotic
Species not present in state

County Color Key

Species present and not rare
Species present and rare
Species extirpated (historic)
Species extinct
Species noxious
Species exotic and present
Native species, but adventive in state
Eradicated
Questionable presence

Range map for Sphaeralcea coccinea

Range map for Sphaeralcea fendleri

Range map for Sphaeralcea grossulariifolia

Range map for Sphaeralcea leptophylla

Range map for Sphaeralcea parvifolia