Iliamna grandiflora (Wild Hollyhock)
ILIAMNA ANGULATA GREENE; SPHAERALCEA GRANDIFLORA RYDBERG; PHYMOSIA GRANDIFLORA RYDBERG; SPHAERALCEA RYDBERGII TIDESTROM
Perennial herb; stems 1-2 m tall, sparsely stellate-pubescent to glabrate; leaves deeply lobed, 5-10 cm long, sparsely pubescent, coarsely dentate; inflorescence an interrupted spiciform raceme, coarsely pubescent; bracts of the involucel lanceolate, 8-12 mm long; calyx about 15 mm long; petals 2-3 cm long, pink drying purplish or lavender, densely villous on the margins of the claws; staminal column hirsute basally, about 1.5 cm long; fruits subglobose to oblate, about 1 cm long; mericarps about 12, coarsely hirsute; seeds 2.5-3 mm long. Flowers in July and August.
Iliamna rivularis is similar, but has linear involucel bracts. It is not known to occur in New Mexico.
New Mexico, Bernalillo, Santa Fe, Sandoval, Taos, and Torrance counties; Arizona, Colorado, and Utah.
Damp montane meadows and stream courses; 2,100-3,350 m (7,000-11,000 ft).
The distribution of this plant includes NM, CO, AZ, and UT. It is not considered rare in any of the other states where it occurs. It is documented from three counties in Arizona (Coconino, Gila, and Graham), six counties in Colorado (Garfield, Mesa, Montezuma, Ouray, Pitkin, and Routt), and one county in Utah (San Juan). It apparently occurs in small scattered populations throughout its range, but is frequent enough that it does not qualify as a New Mexico rare plant.
The effects of livestock grazing, timber harvest, and forest fire on this species have not been studied.
*New Mexico Native Plants Protection Advisory Committee. 1984. A handbook of rare and endemic plants of New Mexico. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.
Fryxell, P.A. 1993. Malvaceae - part one: All genera except Sphaeralcea St. Hil. Journal of the Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science 27(2):222-236. \ \
Wiggins, I.L. 1936. A resurrection and revision of the genus Iliamna Greene. Contributions from the Dudley Herbarium of Stanford University 1:213-229. \ \
Weber, W.A. 1987. Colorado flora: Western Slope. Colorado Associated University Press, Boulder. \ \
For distribution maps and more information, visit Natural Heritage New Mexico