Sphaeralcea fendleri A. Gray

A perennial with a woody base, its annual stems, leaves, inflorescence-axes and calyx all clad with stellate hairs. Leaves oblong-ovate to broadly ovate, up to 2 in. long, acute at the apex, cuneate to rounded at the base, sparsely toothed and mostly shallowly three-lobed; petiole up to 1 in. long. Flowers produced in summer and autumn in the upper leaf-axils, solitary or up to six together in a cymose cluster, on stalks up to 1 in. long; bracteoles linear, in whorls of three beneath each flower. Calyx with narrowly triangular lobes. Corolla about 1 in. wide, with five reddish orange obovate emarginate petals. Staminal column downy, about 1⁄4 in. long, bearing numerous anthers. Bot. Mag., n.s., t. 140.

Native of the south-western USA and N. Mexico. A very striking species, useful for its long period of bloom from mid-summer into autumn. It is one of those many plants that in our climate come near to being herbaceous perennials, yet are too tender for the conventional herbaceous border and need a favoured position such as the foot of a sunny wall. Even if the stems survive the winter they should be shortened to near the base in spring. Propagated by cuttings of the young shoots.