''Sidalcea keckii'' is a rare species of flowering plant in the mallow family, known by the common names Keck's checkerbloom and Keck's checkermallow.

Distribution

The plant is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, where it is known from the Inner Northern

California Coast Ranges The Coast Ranges of California span from Del Norte or Humboldt County, California, south to Santa Barbara County. The other three coastal California mountain ranges are the Transverse Ranges, Peninsular Ranges and the Klamath Mountains. P ...

and Southern

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...

foothills. ;Southern Sierra Three recent occurrences in the southern Sierra, all of which may have been

extirpated Local extinction, also known as extirpation, refers to a species (or other taxon) of plant or animal that ceases to exist in a chosen geographic area of study, though it still exists elsewhere. Local extinctions are contrasted with global extinct ...

by now.The Nature Conservancy
/ref> The plant was thought

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

in the southern Sierra until it was rediscovered at one site in

Tulare County Tulare County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 473,117. The county seat is Visalia. The county is named for Tulare Lake, once the largest freshwater lake west of the Great Lakes. ...

in 1992. This site, which was located on private land, has since been converted for orange groves, possibly eliminating the plant.USFWS
Final designation of critical habitat for ''Sidalcea keckii'' (Keck's checkermallow).
''Federal Register'' March 18, 2003. The owner of the land has not allowed any searches for the plant since then, but the area is considered critical habitat for this federally listed

endangered species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inv ...

Description

''Sidalcea keckii'' is an annual herb growing up to 35 centimeters tall which is bristly from top to base. The leaves have blades shallowly edged or deeply divided into lobes, the upper blades with toothed edges. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

is a dense cluster of a few flowers with deep pink petals measuring 1 to 2 centimeters long. Each flower has a calyx of pointed green

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...

s which may be streaked with pink. The bloom period is April and May.

References

External links

Calflora Database: ''Sidalcea keckii'' (Keck's checkerbloom)Jepson Manual eFlora (TJM2) treatment of ''Sidalcea keckii''USDA Plants Profile for ''Sidalcea keckii''UC CalPhotos gallery: ''Sidalcea keckii''
keckii Endemic flora of California Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Natural history of the California Coast Ranges {{Malveae-stub