Three New Malacothamnus Species Added to iNat

I've added three new species to iNat from my new monograph of Malacothamnus, which you can download for free here. Each new species is described in Volume 2 of the monograph, which has more details, and also included in the treatment in Volume 3, which has more photos.

Malacothamnus astrotentaculatus - Starry-tentacled Bushmallow.
This is the northernmost species in the genus, the range of which was expanded by an iNaturalist observation. It is endemic to Shasta and Tehama counties. This one needs more people looking for it in recently burned areas to help figure out the extent of its range.

Malacothamnus discombobulatus - Discombobulating Bushmallow.
This is what used to be the disjunct northern populations of Malacothamnus davidsonii. It is endemic to Monterey and San Luis Obispo counties. Malacothamnus davidsonii is now restricted to the Tujunga region of Los Angeles County and I suggest using the common name Tujunga bushmallow for M. davidsonii now to reduce confusion between these two species and to raise awareness that it is a narrow endemic to that region. Davidson's bushmallow is still set as the default common name on iNat for M. davidsonii as that will connect to most other websites. This may change in the future if other websites start adopting my suggested common name.

Malacothamnus eastwoodiae - Alice's Lovely Bushmallow.
This one has the smallest range of all Malacothamnus species and is currently only known from Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County.

Posted on August 26, 2023 04:24 PM by keirmorse