So this beautiful weed (yes weed) is growing in my back yard and i would love to be able to know what it is. A friend of mine is convinced it is a Orange Globe Mallow which i disagree with. She said i am going to get pink eye from it and i should pull it. I honestly think it is to pretty to be yanked out of the ground! haha I live in El Paso, TX so i am sure it is something from this region. I haven't been able to locate anything yet online. Thanks!
Sphaeralcea munroana, http://www.highcountrygardens.com/peren ... a-munroana Don't know about causing pink eye.
But toni, missa009's leaf doesn't look like what's in your link. The flower is so cute. It looks like a mini Poppy. They look close but her's looks more like Sphaeralcea ambigua.
Here is a close up i took this morning. I just wanted to make sure it wasn't something that i should be worried about with my two kids. ( photo / image / picture from missa009's Garden )
I know, I was showing her a photo of the plant her friend gave her the common name of so she could compare them. Sphaeralcea ambigua is also a Globe Mallow another name is Desert Mallow. http://www.calflora.org/cgi-bin/species ... ecnum=7719 I did some research on the pink-eye claim. Turns out one of the common names for Sphaeralcea ambigua is sore-eyes. When the stellate hairs (star shaped hairs) on the plant are disturbed and get into your eyes they cause a lot of pain. Those hairs are a defense mechanism that has evolved to protect the plant from herbivores.
Desert Mallow. We have it in our garden, and it is attractive to butterflies and hummingbirds. It blossoms almost constantly from early spring to frost. I don't know about the eye irritant factor, but I do know that it spreads like crazy, and I have to keep yanking it out where it doesn't belong!
Thank You so much for all the input. I think for now i will leave it there until we have our concrete put in. I was just really curious as to what it was.
There are a lot of plants that you should wash your hands after handling or wear gloves because they can cause problems if disturbed or yanked or pruned...I have a small jar of rubbing alcohol to clean my pruners in after doing this.Plus I wash my hands alot if I don't wear gloves. I agree mallow is pretty but if given the right area, it can take over. I have found that one of my plants that I have grown for years has decided it wants to stay(LOL) and is growing into everything and now I am yanking it when I can.
