1. Callirhoe alcaeoides (Michx.) A. Gray (pink poppy mallow, pale poppy mallow, plains poppy mallow)

Pl. 451 a, b; Map 2045

Stems 10–45 cm long, erect or ascending, densely pubescent with stellate hairs. Basal leaf petioles 7–19 cm long, pubescent with stellate hairs. Basal leaf blades 2.5–10.0 cm long, deltoid-cordate to ovate in outline, with 3–5 shallow to deeply palmate lobes (rarely unlobed), these often irregularly lobed again, the ultimate segments usually relatively broad, the margins entire to scalloped, the upper surface pubescent with simple hairs, the undersurface with stellate and sometimes also scattered, simple hairs. Leaves of the aerial stems with the blades 4–8 cm long, triangular-cordate to broadly obovate in outline, with 3–5 shallow to deeply palmate lobes, these often pinnately lobed again, the margins entire to scalloped, the pubescence as in the basal leaves. Stipules persistent, often partially fused to the petiole, 5–8 mm long, lanceolate to narrowly lanceolate. Inflorescences racemes with 4–14 flowers, sometimes condensed and appearing as stalked clusters or umbellate. Bractlets subtending the calyx absent. Buds ovate, the sepal tips valvate, joined to form a short beaklike projection 1.5–4.0 mm long. Calyces 7–10 mm long, the outer surface densely pubescent with simple hairs and often also a few 4-rayed stellate hairs, the lobes 5–8 mm long, lanceolate. Petals 8–20 mm long, nearly white to light pink or pale lavender. Fruits 6–9 mm in diameter, with 10–13 mericarps. Mericarps indehiscent, 4.0–5.5 mm long, the dorsal surface hairy, the sides of the fertile portion with a reticulate pattern of thickenings, separated from the prominent sterile portion by a well-developed collar. 2n=28. May–August.

Scattered in the western portion of the Glaciated Plains Division and the Unglaciated Plains; also introduced at scattered sites in the rest of Missouri, but apparently still absent from the Mississippi Lowlands (Iowa to Louisiana, west to South Dakota and Texas, adventive eastward to Indiana, Tennessee, and possibly Alabama). Dry upland forests, upland prairies, and calcareous glades; also stream banks, roadsides, railroads, old quarries, and pastures.