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Sphaeralcea rusbyi; photograph (c) Trevor Van Loon, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Trevor Van Loon, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2025-09-28

Sphaeralcea rusbyi A.Gray

Cutleaf globemallow; Gila globemallow; Rusby's desert-mallow; Rusby's globemallow

Malvaceae · Arizona, California +1

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Sphaeralcea rusbyi, photograph (c) Carlos A. Armenta, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)Sphaeralcea rusbyi, photograph (c) Carlos A. Armenta, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)Sphaeralcea rusbyi, photograph (c) Peter Abrahamsen, some rights reserved (CC BY)Sphaeralcea rusbyi, photograph (c) Peter Abrahamsen, some rights reserved (CC BY)Sphaeralcea rusbyi, photograph (c) Peter Abrahamsen, some rights reserved (CC BY)Sphaeralcea rusbyi, photograph (c) Peter Abrahamsen, some rights reserved (CC BY) 77 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-6.5°C
Record low -20.2 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
33°C
Jul at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
446mm
9 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
19–54DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet winters: the rain comes December to March and July to September, with nights below freezing; no growing season read. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Sphaeralcea rusbyi is a species of flowering plant in the mallow family known by the common names Rusby's globemallow and Rusby's desert-mallow. It is native to the southwestern United States, where it can be found in various types of desert habitat. The species is generally divided into three subtaxa which grow in separate sections of the desert southwest. In general, the plant produces hairy or woolly stems which can reach three meters tall. More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Sphaeralcea rusbyi", CC BY-SA 4.0.

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 rainy season and no growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (336 mm of 438 mm) falls in December to March and July to September, the cooler part of the year, but the mean nightly low is below freezing in February and January, so the rule reads no growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: January to March and June to September.

Rain

438 mm in the median year at the habitat, 336 mm of it December to March and July to September. Wettest month August at 64 mm, driest month June at 7 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 263 mm to 616 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 446 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 438 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: 19 to 54 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 17, the highest 90th-percentile month 55).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -6.5 °C, the absolute minimum -20.2 °C, 3,236 frost nights in 44 years, 73.5 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 39.3 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low -1.0 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range -4.1 °C to 2.6 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 33.4 °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).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 35 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 +68 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

Habitat climate of Sphaeralcea rusbyi through the yearWarmest month July, mean daily high 33 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low -1.0 °C; 438 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°50°frost39.3° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-20.2° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100mm rainDLI 19–54RH 35–51%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 167 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C11 / 7–1613 / 9–1716 / 13–2121 / 18–2626 / 23–3132 / 29–3633 / 30–3732 / 29–3629 / 26–3323 / 20–2716 / 13–2011 / 7–15
Night °C-1 / -4–30 / -3–42 / -1–66 / 3–1011 / 8–1516 / 13–2020 / 16–2419 / 15–2315 / 12–199 / 6–133 / 0–7-1 / -4–3
Rain mm48 / 26–6748 / 29–6347 / 26–6321 / 13–3011 / 7–187 / 3–1147 / 20–7464 / 26–9236 / 20–5531 / 22–4332 / 17–4646 / 25–62
DLI21 / 19–2327 / 26–2837 / 36–3846 / 45–4752 / 50–5254 / 53–5548 / 46–5043 / 41–4539 / 38–4031 / 30–3323 / 22–2519 / 17–21
RH %51 / 47–5350 / 47–5347 / 44–5042 / 38–4539 / 35–4135 / 33–3844 / 39–4647 / 41–5044 / 40–4745 / 41–4747 / 43–4950 / 46–53
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 167 grid cells holding the 254 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1109:1357 (34.525, -112.125). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -20.2 °C, 1st-percentile night -6.5 °C, 99th-percentile day 39.3 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 167 distinct grid cells holding 254 of the 254 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1109:1357 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 34.50_-111.875, lapse-corrected +68 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1411 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeArizona, California, Utah · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker33.922, -111.479 · in the densest population, 291 records (57% of those in range)
Kew's description“perennial” · “temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 508 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 254 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 244 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 6 km away. 254 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 508 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Sphaeralcea rusbyi, photograph 1did not loadSphaeralcea rusbyi, photograph 2did not loadSphaeralcea rusbyi, photograph 3did not loadSphaeralcea rusbyi, photograph 4did not loadSphaeralcea rusbyi, photograph 5did not loadSphaeralcea rusbyi, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Carlos A. Armenta, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (2); (c) Peter Abrahamsen, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Quercus turbinella Quercus turbinella Sonoran scrub oak Photo: CC BY, Jo RobertsEchinocereus yavapaiensis Echinocereus yavapaiensis Yavapai Hedgehog Cactus Photo: CC BY, Daniel McNairErythranthe verbenacea Erythranthe verbenacea Crimson Monkeyflower Photo: CC BY, Kenzie Anderson-BellCirsium neomexicanum Cirsium neomexicanum New Mexico thistle Photo: CC BY, CK2AZEriodictyon angustifolium Eriodictyon angustifolium Narrow-leaf yerba santa Photo: CC BY, Jo Roberts Hesperocyparis glabra Cupressaceae

Other Sphaeralcea 19 in the reference

Sphaeralcea ambigua Sphaeralcea ambigua Desert globe-mallow Photo: CC BY, Tim MessickSphaeralcea angustifolia Sphaeralcea angustifolia Copper globe-mallow Photo: CC BY, IDClaireSphaeralcea bonariensis Sphaeralcea bonariensis Latin globemallow Photo: CC BY, Matias BaranzelliSphaeralcea coccinea Sphaeralcea coccinea Scarlet globe-mallow Photo: CC BY, Daughter DadSphaeralcea coulteri Sphaeralcea coulteri Coulter's globemallow Photo: CC BY-SA, Brian FinzelSphaeralcea emoryi Sphaeralcea emoryi Emory's desertmallow Photo: CC BY, Ian McFaulSphaeralcea fendleri Sphaeralcea fendleri Fendler's globemallow Photo: CC BY, Rachel StringhamSphaeralcea fulva Sphaeralcea fulva La Luna Globemallow Photo: CC BY, Sula VanderplankSphaeralcea grossulariifolia Sphaeralcea grossulariifolia Gooseberry-leaf globe-mallow Photo: CC BY, Michael GoodSphaeralcea hastulata Sphaeralcea hastulata Spear globemallow Photo: CC BY-SA, bmasintonSphaeralcea incana Sphaeralcea incana Gray globemallow Photo: CC BY, johnyochumSphaeralcea laxa Sphaeralcea laxa Caliche globemallow Photo: CC0, author not stated all 20 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Sphaeralcea rusbyi subsp. gilensis; Sphaeralcea rusbyi var. gilensis. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Malvaceae
Described by
A.Gray
Native to
Arizona, California, Utah
Wild records
508 in range · 244 open

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 record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 1 record within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (1 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 34.50_-111.875, lapse-corrected +68 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.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 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every 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 27 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…