Endangered Southern Utah flower unique despite not standing out in the crowd

Written by Alysha Lundgren
June 12, 2023

ST. GEORGE — The roadsides are vibrant this year, with plants blossoming in large numbers across Southern Utah. Bright orange globemallows speckled the landscape, but one member of the genus is unlike the others. Unique and endangered, the Gierisch mallow is tucked away in its small habitat on the Utah-Arizona state line.

A Gierisch mallow grows, St. George, Utah, May 29, 2023 | Photo by Alysha Lundgren, St. George News

Washington County lies at the intersection of the Mojave Desert, Colorado Plateau and Great Basin, making it a distinctive environment inhabited by a large variety of plants and animals — some found nowhere else. Despite its similarity to other plants in its genus, the Gierisch mallow is one such species.

While a plant’s location can be helpful in identification, scientists are still learning about the Gierisch mallow’s distribution, said Jessica Miller, a fish and wildlife biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The endemic species, Sphaeralcea gierischii, is found southwest of St. George and into Mohave County, Arizona, growing in a specific geologic layer — the gypsum-rich rock of the Harrisburg member of the Kaibab Formation, Miller told St. George News.

Most Gierisch mallows are found on hills but it’s unclear if elevation is crucial for their growth, Miller said.

A Gierisch mallow’s leaves soak in the sun, Mohave County, Arizona, June 5, 2023 | Photo by Alysha Lundgren, St. George News

According to the Utah Department of Wildlife Resources Field Guide, the species is typically found between 2,297 to 3,937 feet in the “warm desert shrub community” among plants like four-wing saltbush, ambrosia and ephedra, also known as Brigham tea.

There were 18 known populations of Gierisch mallow on 460 acres of mostly Bureau of Land Management land, according to a report by the University of Utah’s Conservation Director Bruce Pavlik and others.

Fish and Wildlife and the BLM estimated that 5,000-8,000 specimens inhabit about 2.5 acres of BLM land in Utah. Between 7,000 and 12,000 individual plants are estimated to grow in Arizona, with the largest population in the state occurring within an active mining operation at the Black Rock Gypsum Mine run by Western Mining and Minerals.

Blending in while standing out

It has “showy” orange flowers, like many others in its genus, which bloom from mid-April to early May, the field guide states.

Gierisch mallows (bottom) are more likely to have smooth leaves and sepals compared to “hairier” other species, like Rusby’s globe mallow (unconfirmed, top), Mohave County, Arizona, date unspecified | Image by Alysha Lundgren, St. George News

Because the flower is so similar to other globemallows, it wasn’t described as a distinct species until 2002. Often mistaken for Rusby’s globe mallow and others, Gierisch has a mostly smooth sepal — the green, leaflike part of the flower that encloses the petals.

The stems are often “purple-ly,” but the color can vary. The plants boast palmate leaves that are deeply lobed and characteristically nearly or completely hairless, said Lee Hughes, a retired ecologist with the BLM’s Arizona Strip office.

Its hairlessness is rare in the genus as globemallows are often covered with stellate hairs, giving them a rough texture, like sandpaper, the field guide states.

For instance, Rusby’s and scarlet globemallows have deeply-lobed but hairy leaves and are often mistaken for Gierisch mallows, Mindy Wheeler, a native plant conservation project leader with Utah State University, told St. George News.

However, if a Gierisch mallow has hair, it will typically be restricted to the leaf edges, whereas Rubsy’s mallows will be hairy throughout.

“Sometimes it takes a good hand lens or microscope to see the difference,” Wheeler added.

Miller concurred that there is a gradient in hairiness for both Gierisch mallows and similar species, which “just adds even more confusion,” and “characteristics can start to overlap a little bit, so it’s hard to tease apart which is which.”

Endangered

Cheatgrass grows near wildflowers in the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area, St. George, Utah, May 14, 2023 | Photo by Alysha Lundgren, St. George News

Gierisch mallows were federally listed as endangered in 2013, primarily due to encroachment on its habitat by a nearby gypsum mine, Hughes said.

In some areas, the mallows were removed during mining operations. Since there is not much historical data about the species, it is difficult to know where they used to grow compared to their current distribution, Miller added.

Invasive species, like cheatgrass and red brome, can outcompete Gierisch mallows, sprouting earlier and growing prolifically in various habitats, Hughes said. While the grasses can create dangerous fire conditions, the mallows typically grow back.

Cattle, other livestock and wildlife appear to appreciate the flower’s hairlessness compared to others in the genus and can kill plants when grazing “too close,” but Hughes said they typically recover. Livestock may also trample plants while grazing.

Other threats to the flower include recreational uses, like riding off-road vehicles, which can disturb both the plants and its habitat, Miller said.

“The habitat is fragile, and the plants and the soil crust that are found on desert soils are important to many of the plants,” she said. “We don’t specifically know how important they are for Gierisch mallow but it’s important just for the general vegetative community there. And those soil crusts are really fragile and by walking on them or driving over them, it can destroy them and take decades or more to recover.”

In this file photo, red lichen makes up part of the biological crust at White Dome Nature Preserve, St. George, Utah, Oct. 2, 2022 | Photo by Alysha Lundgren, St. George News

The species’ population can fluctuate with conditions, making consistent monitoring important for understanding long-term trends, Miller said. For instance, they may produce more flowers and seeds after a wet winter.

The Bureau of Land Management monitors various sites throughout the plant’s habitat “more or less annually,” mapping their specific locations, Miller said. However, due to limited time and staff, some flowers were mapped that have not been recently monitored.

“But it’s worth going out to those sites and confirming the identification since we’re learning that there’s more of a gradient in the physical characteristics,” she added.

Conserving the species

This file image shows the estimated location of Gierisch mallow populations on the Utah-Arizona border | Image courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, St. George News

As part of its conservation efforts, Fish and Wildlife is completing a Species Status Assessment, a “lengthy document about the biology and status of this species” to inform a recovery plan and ensure Gierisch mallow populations remain stable or improve, Wheeler said. The process is expected to be completed next year.

“That will guide the activities to hopefully recover the species so that we can downlist it or delist it from the Endangered Species Act,” Miller added.

In the past, Western Mining and Minerals replaced previously disturbed topsoil and replanted native species, Miller said. Girisch mallows revegetated the area spontaneously.

“They do come back onto disturbed areas,” Hughes said. “Once they put the topsoil back where they mine, it comes back on its own.”

The Utah BLM also designated the Stateline Area of Critical Environmental Concern to protect the Gierisch Mallow and Holmgren’s Milkvetch, another rare species that grows in similar habitats.

A Gierisch mallow stands dry after seeding, Mohave County, Arizona, June 5, 2023 | Photo by Alysha Lundgren, St. George News

The University of Utah worked to create a habitat for Gierisch mallows in 2017-2018, using mining waste materials called gypsum red-fines, according to Pavlik’s report.

The seeds initially germinated at low rates, but researchers expected an improved response during 2017’s summer monsoons. Additionally, approximately 40% of the transplanted mallows survived into spring 2018, with a majority producing flowers.

Due to successful seed production, the report posits that salvaging and replanting Gierisch mallows and irrigating the plants for the first three months could be a “reasonable conservation measure.”

Southern Utahns can help the species by admiring it from afar and staying on designated roads and trails, Miller said, adding that individuals should avoid disturbing the mallows and their habitat.

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2023, all rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alysha Lundgren joined the St. George News team in 2022. She began her career as a freelancer, writing resource articles for families of children with disabilities. She's also covered topics such as astronomy, recreation and nature. Originally from Nevada, Alysha fell in love with Utah quickly after moving to Cedar City. In her free time, she enjoys wandering and photographing Utah's gorgeous landscapes or hunkering down in a blanket to play video games or read a good book.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @STGnews

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