Malvella leprosa(Ortega) Krapov.

alkali mallow

WFO wfo-0000450632 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Malvella leprosa, photographed by paulexcoff
fig. a paulexcoff, CC BY-SA 4.0 / 2022-04-24 / obs. 194821471
Malvella leprosa, photographed by María Zeta
fig. b María Zeta, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 176817679
Malvella leprosa, photographed by Andrea Gantzer
fig. c Andrea Gantzer, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 176976517
Malvella leprosa, photographed by Andrea Gantzer
fig. d Andrea Gantzer, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 175172280
Malvella leprosa, photographed by María Zeta
fig. e María Zeta, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 171999514
Malvella leprosa, photographed by Romi Galeota Lencina
fig. f Romi Galeota Lencina, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 169799191
Malvella leprosa, photographed by Madeleine Claire
fig. g Madeleine Claire, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 169120164
Malvella leprosa, photographed by joergmlpts
fig. h joergmlpts, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 167993742

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 23 botanical countries

Regions where Malvella leprosa is native: Arizona, California, Idaho, Kansas, Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southwest, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Argentina South, Bolivia, Chile Central, Chile North, Peru, Uruguay ArizonaCaliforniaIdahoKansasMexico CentralMexico NortheastMexico NorthwestMexico SouthwestNevadaNew MexicoOklahomaOregonTexasUtahWashingtonArgentina NortheastArgentina NorthwestArgentina SouthBoliviaChile CentralChile NorthPeruUruguay
Native distribution of Malvella leprosa, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Arizona ARI NORTHERN AMERICA
California CAL
Idaho IDA
Kansas KAN
Mexico Central MXC
Mexico Northeast MXE
Mexico Northwest MXN
Mexico Southwest MXS
Nevada NEV
New Mexico NWM
Oklahoma OKL
Oregon ORE
Texas TEX
Utah UTA
Washington WAS
Argentina Northeast AGE SOUTHERN AMERICA
Argentina Northwest AGW
Argentina South AGS
Bolivia BOL
Chile Central CLC
Chile North CLN
Peru PER
Uruguay URU

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Flowering 395 in flower of 537 examined

Peak flowering in Jan. Each bar is the share of Malvella leprosa observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 395 of 537 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Also published as 17 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Disella hederacea (Douglas) Greene
  • Malva albifolia Larrañaga
  • Malva californica C.Presl
  • Malva hederacea Douglas
  • Malva leprosa Ortega
  • Malva obliqua Nutt. ex A.Gray
  • Malva plicata Nutt.
  • Malva sulphurea Gillies
  • Malvastrum sulphureum (Gillies ex Hook. & Arn.) Griseb.
  • Sida hederacea Torr. ex A.Gray
  • Sida hederacea var. parvifolia Hemsl.
  • Sida hederacea var. sulphurea (Gillies) Baker f.
  • Sida leprosa (Ortega) K.Schum.
  • Sida leprosa var. hederacea (Douglas) K.Schum.
  • Sida leprosa var. sulphurea (Gillies) Hochr.
  • Sida obliqua DC.
  • Sida sulphurea (Gillies ex Hook. & Arn.) A.Gray

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.