Carnegiea gigantea, Giant Saguaro

Southwest Desert Flora

Home to the plants of the Sonoran, Chihuahuan and Mojave Deserts

Cirsium ochrocentrum, Yellowspine Thistle

Eremalche exilis, White Mallow


Scientific Name: Eremalche exilis
Common Name: White Mallow
Also Called: White Mallow, White-mallow, Eremalche exilis (Spanish: Malva)
Family: Malvaceae, Globe Mallow Family
Synonyms: (Malvastrum exilis)
Status: Native
Duration: Annual
Size: Up to 20 inches or so.
Growth Form: Forb/herb; plants prostrate to decumbent; plants finely stellate-hairy.
Leaves: Green, dark green; pinnately cleft with rounded lobes, 3 to 5 lobes, lobe tips variable - entire to 3-toothed; pubescence on leaves and stems mostly stellate.
Flower Color: White, pale pink-purple or lavender; flowers small; flowers solitary from leaf axils; flowers bisexual; fruit a disc-shaped schizocarp.
Flowering Season: February to June; March to May in California.
Elevation: 1,000 to 4,000 feet.

Habitat Preferences: Common along roadsides and in fields; habitats desert scrub.

Recorded Range: White Mallow is found in the southwestern United States in AZ, CA, NV, UT. It is also native to Baja California.

North America & US County Distribution Map for Eremalche exilis.

U.S. Weed Information: No information available.
Invasive/Noxious Weed Information: No information available.
Wetland Indicator: No information available.
Threatened/Endangered Information: No information available.

Genus Information: In North America there is 1 species and 1 accepted taxa overall for Eremalche. World wide, The Plant List includes 3 accepted species names and a further 1 infraspecific rank for the genus.

In the Southwestern United States there is 1 species of Eremalche. All data is approximate and subject to taxonomic changes.

Comments: The type (as Malvastrum exilis) from Pyramid Canyon, Mohave County (Newberry in 1858) Arizona. Eremalche exilis

In Southwest Desert Flora also see: Desert Fivespot, Eremalche rotundifolia.

Eremalche exilis has been used for food by southwestern United States indigenous peoples.

  • Pima, Gila River Food, Unspecified; Leaves boiled and eaten.
  • Pima, Gila River Food, Vegetable; Leaves boiled or boiled, strained, refried and eaten as greens.


    • See complete listing of ethno-botanical uses at Native American Ethnobotany, University of Michigan, Dearborn.
    Date Profile Completed: 04/14/2017, updated format 09/28/2017
    References:
    Arizona Flora, Kearney, Thomas H., Peebles, Robert H., 1960, University of California Press, Berkley and Los Angeles, California, as Malvastrum exilis.
    U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service on-line database and USGS ITIS search - (accessed 02/24/2017)
    https://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=ERRO8
    The Plant List (2013). Version 1.1. Published on the Internet; http://www.theplantlist.org/ (accessed 02/24/2017).
    http://www.theplantlist.org/1.1/browse/A/Malvaceae/Eremalche/
    Katarina Andreasen & David M. Bates 2017. Eremalche exilis, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=24546, accessed on April 15, 2017.
    Fryxell, Paul A. 1994. Malvaceae. J. Ariz. - Nev. Acad. Sci. Volume 27(2), 222-236.
    http://www.canotia.org/vpa_volumes/VPA_JANAS_1994_Vol27_2_Fryxell_Malvaceae.pdf
    SEINet synonyms, scientific names, geographic locations, general information - (accessed 04/14/2017).
    http://swbiodiversity.org/seinet/