I've published my PhD research, which you can download for free here. This is a three-volume open-access monograph on the genus Malacothamnus. Most people will only be interested in the third volume, which is a new treatment of the genus with a geographically focused identification key, lots of photographs, preliminary conservation assessments, and general information on the genus. For those who want to dig deeper, the first two volumes go into the details of the evidence used in making the taxonomic decisions for the treatment.

I'll be working on updating the Malacothamnus taxonomy on iNaturalist but it may take some time to complete everything, especially as I want to make it as smooth of a transition as possible. I hope to have all changes done by the time the Jepson eFlora version of the treatment comes out in winter 2023/24.

As well as changing some scientific names, I will also be adding some new common names, which might take some getting used to but will likely ultimately be to everyone's benefit. Some of the common names that have been used on iNaturalist in the past have led to a lot of misidentifications, have been attributed to many different taxa, or honor people who led massacres. I'll be adding some common names that might not all be helpful in themselves but will hopefully eventually be used more than those that cause problems. When possible, I tried to think of a common name that will help reduce misidentifications. See Volume 3 of the monograph for explanations of these.

Perhaps I'll give updates in the journal as I make changes so you can see what I'm doing and give you a little more detail on each change.

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this project! I couldn't have done it without you!

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.

I've added two varieties of Malacothamnus densiflorus to iNat from my new treatment of Malacothamnus, which you can download for free here.

Malacothamnus densiflorus var. viscidus is a rare taxon from the Otay Mountain region of San Diego County, CA and Baja California (range map on taxon page). It is distinguished from the rest of M. densiflorus by relatively long glandular hairs throughout the plant and well as denser stellate hairs on the calyx tube. It also generally has a greasy feel to the leaves and a rancid odor. The glandular trichomes often dry emerald green in color and somewhat resemble unicorn horns, so I've given this one the common name emerald unicorn bushmallow.

The rest of Malacothamnus densiflorus is now assigned to the variety Malacothamnus densiflorus var. densiflorus, which has shorter glandular hairs throughout and sparser stellate hairs on the calyx tube. One thing that really makes M. densiflorus stand out from other Malacothamnus is that stellate hairs on the calyx generally have much fewer rays (branches) than other species. My suggested common name for the species is few-rayed bushmallow, which refers to this. As this common name is actually useful in identification, I've made it the default common name on iNat for this species. The other common names like many-flowered bushmallow are still on iNat and will come up if you type them in but are best avoided as they describe many different species of Malacothamnus and cause misidentifications as a result.

I've updated my IDs for observations of M. densiflorus var. viscidus and, when identifiable to variety, M. densiflorus var. densiflorus in and near the range of var. viscidus. I'm not sure when/if I'll get to identifying the rest of the range of M. densiflorus var. densiflorus. If someone else wants to work on that, go for it. Outside of the range of M. densiflorus var. viscidus, all M. densiflorus should be var. densiflorus with the exception of a couple plantings of var. viscidus outside of its range. See range maps both on iNat and the new treatment. Feel free to ask if you have any questions.