Carried by 3 nurseries
View Availability at NurseryData provided by the participants of the Consortium of California Herbaria
View additional distribution information on the Jepson eflora
Malacothamnus densiflorus is a species of flowering plant in the mallow family known by the common name few-rayed bushmallow. It is native to the Peninsular Ranges of southern California and northern Baja California, where it is a member of the chaparral plant community. This is a shrub with a slender, multibranched stem approaching two meters in maximum height. It is coated in thin to dense yellowish or tan hairs. The thick to leathery leaves are oval in shape, a few centimeters long, and sometimes divided into lobes. The flower cluster is a spikelike cluster of many pale pink flowers with oval or somewhat triangular petals each up to a centimeter long. Flowers appears in abundance in the spring and early summer.
The plant is tough and easy to grow, and extremely drought tolerant. It can handle most soil types as long as they are well draining. In nature it seems to grow best on dry gentle slopes. Avoid summer significant amounts of direct summer water, though it can tolerate a light sprinkling once a month. Does well in full sun or part shade.
Shrub
3 - 7 ft Tall
3 - 7 ft Wide
Mounding, Rounded, Spreading
Fast
Evergreen, Summer Semi-deciduous
Slight
Pink
Spring, Summer
Hedge
Full Sun
Very Low, Low
Max 1x / month once established
Tolerates cold to 10 - 20° F
Fast, Medium
Well draining.
Soil PH: 6 - 8
Gentle slopes
Chaparral
White Sage (Salvia apiana), Black Sage (Salvia mellifera), (Bush Sunflower Encelia californica), California Buckwheat (Eriogonum fasciculatum)
Butterflies and moths supported
0 confirmed and 4 likely
Northern White-Skipper
Heliopetes ericetorum
West Coast Lady
Vanessa annabella