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Scarlet
Globemallow
Sphaeralcea coccinea Nutt.
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Family: Malvaceae,
Mallow
Genus: Sphaeralcea
Description
Plant height: 10-20 cm.
Growth habit:
Low, spreading perennial with rhizomes,
growing in patches.
Stems:
greyish
with dense, star-shaped hairs.
 Leaves: alternate, leaf blades 2-5 cm long, deeply
palmately cut almost to base into 3-5 main, wedge-shaped
segments, grey-hairy beneath, the segments again deeply,
often unequally 2-3-lobed.
 Flowers: orange, saucer-shaped, about 2 cm wide, with
5 broad, notched petals,
in small terminal clusters. The
stalks are much shorter than the calyx. Lower bracts at the
flower
bases are leaflike, the upper ones reduced and soon
falling off. Calyx 5-lobed, usually without bracteoles.
Stamens numerous, joined to a tube toward the base,
freed singly higher up.
Flowering time: June-July.
 Fruits: cheese-shaped capsules composed of 10 or
more 1-seeded carpels. Each carpel about 3 mm long,
densely hairy on the back, net-veined on about 90% of
the sides.
Distribution
Quite common on grasslands and prairies in all parts of
MT. Primarily a species of the Great Plains.
 Medicinal plant: all parts, see below.
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(click on image for full size)
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(click on images for full size)
The Navajo used tea made from
scarlet globemallow as a remedy for diseases caused by witchcraft.
The roots were used to stop bleeding, and they were also chewed
to reduce hunger when food was scarce. The leaves are slimy and
mucilaginous when crushed, and they were chewed or mashed and
used as poultices or plasters on inflamed skin, sores, wounds
and sore or blistered feet. Leaves were also used in lotions to
relieve skin diseases, or they were dried, ground and dusted on
sores. Fresh leaves and flowers were chewed to relieve hoarse
or sore throats and upset stomachs. Whole plants were used to
make a sweet-tasting tea that made distasteful medicines more
palatable. It was also said to reduce swellings, improve appetite,
relieve upset stomachs, and strengthen voices. The Dakota heyoka
chewed the plants to a paste and rubbed it on their skin as protection
from scalding. |
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