Birdfoot checkerbloom

Description

Sidalcea pedata, also called birdfoot checkerbloom or Big Bear checkerbloom, is a rare and endangered perennial herb of California. It blooms between May and July. However, it is an endemic species of California and only occurs in few places in the San Bernardino Mountains, primarily at Bear Valley, Bluff Lake. It grows at 1500–2100 m elevation in moist meadows to open woodlands and the unique pebble plain habitat of the area. Since Big Bear Valley is a resort destination, the birdfoot checkerbloom is threatened by development, vehicles and grazing. Sidalcea pedata grows from a fleshy taproot and can be as tall as 40 cm. It has few stems, which are erect and somewhat stellate at the base. The leaves are basal and are ternately divided into 5–7 parts. The flowers are about 1.3 cm long and are a deep rose-pink with darker veins. They are arranged in a spike-like raceme, with the upper flowers closely crowded together. Like other species within the genus Sidalcea, such as S. oregana ssp,S. pedata is sexually dimorphic. The birdfoot checkerbloom was listed as endangered by the state of California January 1982 and by the U.S. Federal Government August 31, 1984. Sidalcea is a genus (approx. 25 species) of the botanical family Malvaceae. It contains several species of flowering plants known generally as checkerblooms or checkermallows, or prairie mallows in the United Kingdom. They can be annuals or perennials, some rhizomatous. They are native to West and Central North America. In mid- to late summer the clumps of toothed basal leaves produce erect flowering stems, with 5-petalled mallow-type flowers in terminal racemes, in shades of pink, white and purple. Sidalcea is generally diploid (2n = 20), but polyploidy (4n, 6n) also occurs. Annuality appears to have evolved multiple times (4+) within this genus, although an ancestral annual state with annual paraphyly is also possible. Further, evolution rates within annual Sidalcea lineages appear to be faster than those of perennial lineages, at least when examining nuclear ribosomal DNA (internal and external transcribed spacer regions).