I've made a few changes to Malacothamnus fasciculatus on iNat.

Malacothamnus fasciculatus var. laxiflorus was lumped into var. fasciculatus for many years. My research shows that it is distinct, maybe distinct enough to be recognized as a species. It needs more research though, so I'm splitting it back out as just a variety of M. fasciculatus. Vars. laxiflorus and fasciculatus are mostly distinct geographically but intergrade near the border or Orange and San Diego Counties. So that will be the problem area for identification. Var. laxiflorus may also be planted in parts of San Diego County, so that is something to watch for.

My research showed Malacothamnus fasciculatus var. nuttallii to be morphologically, phylogenetically, and geographically distinct from the rest of M. fasciculatus. It also blooms roughly one month later than the other M. fasciculatus varieties growing at similar elevations. So, the new treatment returns M. fasciculatus var. nuttallii back to the species rank as M. nuttallii.

I've added the suggested common name "southern coastal bushmallow" as a common name for both M. fasciculatus and M. fasciculatus var. fasciculatus. Ideally, this will become the default common name but as there are so many observations of M. fasciculatus on iNat, it might be good to hold off on that to see what other websites end up doing.

See more details in my new treatment of Malacothamnus, which you can download for free here.

I've made a few changes to Malacothamnus jonesii, M. gracilis, and M. niveus on iNat.

Malacothamnus gracilis and niveus are sometimes treated as synonyms of M. jonesii without varieties. Morphological, phylogenetic, and geographic evidence indicates M. niveus and M.gracilis are likely best treated as a variety of M. jonesii. They are closely related and intergrade but are mostly morphologically and geographically distinct. The cool thing about treating them as varieties of M. jonesii is that it means I get to be a splitter and a lumper for the same taxa at the same time. It also means that intermediates can be easily IDed to just the species.

In the new treatment, I'm using the common name Huasna bushmallow for M. jonesii var. gracilis and fragrant-snow bushmallow for M. jonesii var. niveus. The Huasna region is the type locality for M. jonesii var. gracilis, so a much more useful name than slender bushmallow, which makes little sense relative to other Malacothamnus. Slender what and why? The original basionym of M. jonesii var. niveus was Malvastrum fragrans but that was already in use, so changed to Malvastrum niveus. Translate those and you get fragrant-snow bushmallow, which at least is better than San Luis Obispo County bushmallow as there are many taxa of Malacothamnus in San Luis Obispo County. The old common names are still on iNat and you can still use them but I've changed the default common name for both to be in sync with the new treatment.

See more details in my new treatment of Malacothamnus, which you can download for free here.

Recent morphological and phylogenetic analyses show M. helleri to be distinct but nested within the M. fremontii clade with some less clear lineages. Because of this, the 2023 Malacothamnus treatment recognizes M. helleri as a variety of M. fremontii and, due to taxonomic priority, it is given the name M. fremontii var. exfibulosus. The rest of M. fremontii is now M. fremontii var. fremontii.

The common name unfurled bushmallow is the suggested alternative for Fremont's bushmallow for those who do not want to honor someone responsible for multiple massacres of Indigenous people. Unfurled refers to the state of the corolla after flowering. In most Malacothamnus taxa, the corolla furls back up after flowering. In M. fremontii, it stays at least somewhat unfurled. This is the most useful character for identifying M. fremontii. The length of hairs on the stem is the easiest way to distinguish the M. fremontii varieties beyond geographic range. Thus, in the new treatment I suggest long-haired unfurled bushmallow for M. fremontii var. fremontii and short-haired unfurled bushmallow for M. fremontii var. exfibulosus.

At present, I have not changed the default common name for M. fremontii when no variety is used. If you have an opinion about whether the default should be changed to unfurled bushmallow or whether iNat should keep honoring Fremont, feel free to speak your mind. Both names will remain on iNat and come up in a search no matter which is set as the default.

See more details in my new treatment of Malacothamnus, which you can download for free here.

The range of Malacothamnus hallii is adjacent to M. arcuatus s.s with morphological intermediates where their ranges meet. Phylogenetic analyses place both taxa in the same clade with some analyses indicating some divergence. While future research may show that M. arcuatus and M. hallii should be treated as two species, the 2023 treatment treats M. hallii as M. arcuatus var. elmeri, the elmeri part having taxonomic priority over hallii when treated as a variety. Placing both taxa in the same species allows intermediates to be classified to the species rank.

The suggested common name in the 2023 treatment for M. arcuatus at the species rank (s.l.) is bewildering bushmallow, which alludes to the taxonomic problems from the 2012 Jepson treatment where the author identified specimens of M. arcuatus s.s. as an amazingly large number of other species, presumably as M. arcuatus confounded her analyses. The common names of each variety adds their geographic placement relative to each other. M. arcuatus var. arcuatus is western bewildering bushmallow. M. arcuatus var. elmeri is eastern bewildering bushmallow.

See more details in my new treatment of Malacothamnus, which you can download for free here.