Alcea digitata

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Alcea digitata
Small plant flowering in Antalya
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Malvales
Family: Malvaceae
Genus: Alcea
Species:
A. digitata
Binomial name
Alcea digitata
(Boiss.) Alef.[1]
Synonyms
Synonym list
    • Althaea digitata Boiss.
    • Alcea leiocarpa (Sam.)
    • Althaea leiocarpa Sam.

Alcea digitata, the fingered hollyhock,[2] is a tall hollyhock with large flowers native to the Middle East.

Description[edit]

A medium to tall (up to 3 m), hairy hollyhock with large, pinkish, or pale flowers (petals to 50 mm). The leaves (particularly upper ones) are distinctively divided into spreading finger-like lobes whose edges are irregular and at times sublobed, the lobes at the base of the leaf tending to point rather backward. Whilst the leaf-end lobe is larger than the others but not hugely so. The low leaves can be well-divided into fingers or just shallowly lobed.

The stem is narrow (to 12 mm) and branched only at the base.The hairs are star-like (sparse or dense). When tall, its height mostly comprises a long flower stalk with little leafage. It is found at roadsides, fields, rocky slopes, steppe, and maquis.

The epicalyx is large (>=50% calyx). The fruit segments with wingless edges, conspicuously wrinkled, pilose hairy (the sides sparsely).[3][4]

Distribution[edit]

The plant's range includes Iran, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, and Turkey.[1] In Turkey, it has been found growing at an elevation range of 20–2400 metres.

Botanical photographs[edit]

Photographs from Antalya unless indicated.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Alcea digitata". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  2. ^ "Alcea digitata". iNaturalist.
  3. ^ Uzunhisarciklı, Mehmet Erkan; Vural, Mecit (1 January 2012). "The taxonomic revision of Alcea and Althaea (Malvaceae) in Turkey". Turkish Journal of Botany. 36 (6).
  4. ^ Uzunhisarciklı, Mehmet Erkan (2009). The Revision of Alcea L. and Althaea L. (Malvaceae) Genus in Turkey (PhD thesis). Gazi University.
  • Davis, P. H. Flora of Turkey and the East Aegean Islands. Vol. 2.[page needed]
  • Post, George E. Flora of Syria, Palestine, and Sinai. Vol. 1 (2nd ed.).[page needed]