73 photographs › At a glance
- Jan, shaded
- Feb
- Mar
- Apr
- May, shaded
- Jun, shaded
- Jul, shaded
- Aug, shaded
- Sep, shaded
- Oct, shaded
- Nov
- Dec
About the genus · Sphaeralcea
Sphaeralcea is a genus of flowering plants in the mallow family (Malvaceae). There are about 40-60 species, including annuals, perennials, and shrubs. Most originate in the drier regions of North America, with some known from South America. More on Wikipedia ›
Quoted from Wikipedia, "Sphaeralcea", CC BY-SA 4.0.
Cultivation
Seasons
The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (263 mm of 353 mm) falls in January and May to October, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 21.4 °C against a yearly mean of 17.5 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: November to April and July.
Rain
353 mm in the median year at the habitat, 263 mm of it January and May to October. Wettest month August at 56 mm, driest months (2 at 17 mm). Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 254 mm to 621 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 374 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 353 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.
Light
Open sky over the habitat: 21 to 50 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 19, the highest 90th-percentile month 53).
Warmth and air
Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -6.5 °C, the absolute minimum -14.5 °C, 2,127 frost nights in 44 years, 48.3 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 38.0 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 1.8 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range -3.0 °C to 7.9 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 32.9 °C in July (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -6.5 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).
Relative humidity at the habitat: 42 to 51% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.
How this section is made
Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.
Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.
Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.
Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.
Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +98 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.
Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.
Climate across the habitat
Habitat months, northern hemisphere
Mean daily high from 15 °C in Jan and Dec to 33 °C in Jun and Jul; mean nightly low from 2 °C in Jan and Dec to 21 °C in Jul. The cold quarter, Nov to Jan, is the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low, centred on the 2 months in a row that tie for it. 353 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added), the wettest month Aug. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 574 habitat cells. Over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER) the absolute minimum was -14.5 °C and the 99th-percentile day 38.0 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.
Figures by month
| Figure | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day °C | 15 / 9–20 | 17 / 12–23 | 21 / 16–27 | 25 / 21–30 | 30 / 25–33 | 33 / 28–35 | 33 / 27–35 | 32 / 26–35 | 29 / 24–32 | 25 / 21–28 | 19 / 14–24 | 15 / 9–21 |
| Night °C | 2 / -3–8 | 4 / -1–10 | 6 / 1–13 | 10 / 5–16 | 15 / 10–20 | 19 / 14–23 | 21 / 15–24 | 20 / 15–25 | 17 / 13–21 | 12 / 8–17 | 6 / 2–12 | 2 / -3–9 |
| Rain mm | 20 / 12–31 | 17 / 11–35 | 17 / 7–40 | 18 / 8–46 | 20 / 8–75 | 33 / 12–81 | 55 / 39–85 | 56 / 43–83 | 47 / 30–79 | 32 / 23–70 | 18 / 11–32 | 20 / 12–33 |
| DLI | 23 / 21–27 | 30 / 26–34 | 39 / 33–41 | 46 / 39–48 | 50 / 41–52 | 50 / 43–53 | 46 / 43–48 | 42 / 41–44 | 38 / 34–39 | 31 / 28–33 | 25 / 22–29 | 21 / 19–26 |
| RH % | 51 / 49–56 | 49 / 46–55 | 46 / 42–54 | 43 / 38–53 | 42 / 37–56 | 44 / 37–57 | 49 / 45–57 | 51 / 48–58 | 51 / 46–59 | 49 / 45–57 | 48 / 46–56 | 51 / 49–56 |
How this section is made
Natural habitat
How this section is made
Photographs
Photographs: (c) bmasinton, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (4); (c) Ian McFaul, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).
Related
Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.
Acourtia nana Desert holly Photo: CC BY, Michelle W. （鍾偉瑋）
Chamaesaracha sordida Hairy five eyes Photo: CC BY, Daniel McNair
Zephyranthes longifolia Copper zephyrlily Photo: CC0, author not stated
Hoffmannseggia glauca Indian rush-pea Photo: CC BY, Álvaro Parra Valdivia
Hilaria mutica Tobosa grass Photo: CC BY, Stephanie Tran
Rhus microphylla Desert sumac Photo: CC BY, Ian McFaulOther Sphaeralcea 19 in the reference
Sphaeralcea ambigua Desert globe-mallow Photo: CC BY, Tim Messick
Sphaeralcea angustifolia Copper globe-mallow Photo: CC BY, IDClaire
Sphaeralcea bonariensis Latin globemallow Photo: CC BY, Matias Baranzelli
Sphaeralcea coccinea Scarlet globe-mallow Photo: CC BY, Daughter Dad
Sphaeralcea coulteri Coulter's globemallow Photo: CC BY-SA, Brian Finzel
Sphaeralcea emoryi Emory's desertmallow Photo: CC BY, Ian McFaul
Sphaeralcea fendleri Fendler's globemallow Photo: CC BY, Rachel Stringham
Sphaeralcea fulva La Luna Globemallow Photo: CC BY, Sula Vanderplank
Sphaeralcea grossulariifolia Gooseberry-leaf globe-mallow Photo: CC BY, Michael Good
Sphaeralcea incana Gray globemallow Photo: CC BY, johnyochum
Sphaeralcea laxa Caliche globemallow Photo: CC0, author not stated
Sphaeralcea lindheimeri Woolly globemallow Photo: CC BY, Jane Weeden all 20 ›Names & registers
Also known as Sphaeralcea arenaria; Sphaeralcea glabrescens; Sphaeralcea hastuta; Sphaeralcea martii; Sphaeralcea pumila and 14 more. (GBIF Backbone)
The record
Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →
Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 25 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (22 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 3 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)climate answeredasked 2026-10-22climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 30.50_-103.750, lapse-corrected +98 m at 6.5 °C/kmwikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22wikipedia nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22inat.photos.cultivated not askedgbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshotEvery source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 53 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.