INDIAN MALLOW LARGE-FLOWERED SIDA
Leaves mostly palmately nerved; sepals 3-5, more or less united; petals 5; stamens numerous, united into a column; style branched above.
Indian Mallow (Abutilon incanum) is a much branched plant, commonly 2-4 ft. tall, with rather small ovate leaves, and yellow flowers nearly an inch across. It is a profuse bloomer in the summer and fall. Like other abutilons, it is sometimes called flowering maple because of the maple-like leaves, and may be easily recognized by the seed-capsules, which are about ½ inch high and divided into 7-9 cells. The flowers are typical of the mallow group, having 5 separate petals and numerous stamens united in a tube around the styles. The plants grow in dry soil from Arkansas to Mexico and Arizona.
Large-Flowered Sida (Sida texana) is a common perennial plant in the sandy regions of South Texas. The slender, erect stems bear a few linear-oblong leaves, paler below, and long slender-stalked flowers. The flowers are pale orange-yellow and have the irregularly-lobed petals characteristic of the sidas.
The mallow family includes the commercial plants cotton and okra, and numerous ornamentals, such as hibiscus, hollyhock, and althea.
COPPER MALLOW RED STAR-MALLOW
Copper Mallow (Sphæralcea pedatifida) is often confused with the following mallow, but may be distinguished by its thin leaves clothed with a few star-shaped hairs, the 3 linear leaves (bractlets) under the calyx, and the seed capsules, which have one seed in each division completely filling the cell. Both have upper leaves divided into 5 parts and lower leaves into 3 parts. This plant is a low, spreading perennial which forms clumps about 1½ ft. broad. It grows in sandy or gravelly soil, Southwestern Texas, in April and May. Several copper mallows are very abundant in the Southwest.
Red Star-Mallow (Malvastrum coccineum) also has star-shaped hairs on the leaves, but they are very dense and give the leaves a gray, scurfy appearance. The cells are usually 1-seeded with an empty terminal portion above. The plant is also called prairie mallow, red false mallow, and rose moss. It grows in low clumps, spreading or erect, on prairies from Texas to Southern Canada and blooms from May to August.
