These species are perennial herbs or woody but low, diminutively shrubby plants that are usually closely pubescent with star-shaped hairs. Leaves thick, shallowly toothed to palm shaped, with lateral lobes 2-cleft. Flower consists of a 5-lobed calyx with 5 petals, usually red (grenadine), sometimes pink or lavender. Carpels, 5 to 15, united in a ring around a central axis, often remaining attached to the axis after maturity by a thread-like extension of the dorsal nerve, is differentiated into 2 parts, the upper part seedless, smooth and dehiscent, while the lower part contains seeds and is indehiscent.
These native species are difficult to distinguish due to the leaf variation that exists among them, with some of the more common species being scarlet globemallow (S. coccinea (Nutt.) Rydb.), narrow leaf globemallow (S. angustifolia (Cav.) G. Don), and Emory globemallow (S. emoryi Torr.). These species are common along roadsides and in rangeland but are not strongly competitive.
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