Bush Mallows - The Genus Malacothamnus

I'm a PhD student researching bush-mallows (the genus Malacothamnus) and decided to use iNaturalist as a way of pulling together observations both to help see what is going on and to help others identify them.

Bush-mallows are a challenging group of plants to identify, partly because they are extremely variable and partly because a lot more research needs to be done to sort out what is what. They are fire-followers and occasionally follow other disturbances. The best time to find them is within a few years after an area has burned.

As they are tricky to identify, it really helps to have the right photos. The most important things to photograph are a close-up side-view of the flower showing the calyx and bracts, a close-up of the stem hairs, and a full view of the entire inflorescence. The more photos of different things, the better. See this post for examples: http://www.inaturalist.org/projects/bush-mallows-the-genus-malacothamnus/journal/7179-photographing-bush-mallows-for-identification less ↑