Southern Island Mallow

Southern Island Mallow
Lavatera assurgentiflora ssp. Glabra
(lav-uh-TEER-uh) (as-sur-jen-tih-FLOR-uh)

This is an extremely rare flower that is native to Santa Catalina Island and Santa Barbara County. I go this picture by hanging my camera over the wire cage that was protecting it from the deer and Bison on the island. I don’t even want to think what kind of damage a herd of Bison could do to the garden. Like a lot of the Lavateras this flower was striking with its stripes and color pattern. While we saw so many interesting flowers on our trip to California this one was the best.

There isn’t a lot of information available for this plant however I did find this blurb about Catalina endemic plants at this website:
Catalina.com

“Catalina endemic plants are species that occur naturally on Catalina Island and nowhere else in the world. A restricted (endemic) island distribution may result from the gradual elimination of a species on the mainland and its persistence on the isolated island(s), where the threat of extinction may be less.”

For more flower pictures from around the world check out:
Today’s Flowers . The links open at 1400 GMT.


Since it is Sunday here is a bonus California flower. It is a rich rose hailing from Beverly Hills. I think it is ‘Iceberg’ but not really sure.