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Key to Malva

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1 Upper leaves deeply 5-7-lobed, the sinuses cut over halfway to the middle; petals 20-35 mm long; erect perennial
..2 Mericarps 18-20, glabrous or sparsely hairy; stem pubescence stellate; bractlets of the epicalyx densely stellate-pubescent on the lower surface
..2 Mericarps 11-15, densely hirsute at the apex; stem pubescence mainly of simple hairs; bractlets of the epicalyx glabrous on the lower surface
1 Upper leaves less deeply lobed, rarely to as deep as halfway to the middle; petals 5-30 (-45) mm long; prostrate to erect annual or biennial.
....3 Epicalyx of 3 oblong-ovate bractlets; petals reddish purple, (12-) 16-30 (-45) mm long; biennial, erect, usually not branched at the base
....3 Epicalyx of 3 linear or linear to narrowly lanceolate bractlets; petals white or pink, 3-15 mm long; annual, sprawling, usually branched at the base (except M. verticillata).
......4 Bractlets of the epicalyx linear; petals to 3-5 mm long, white to pale lilac
......4 Bractlets of the epicalyx broadly linear to narrowly lanceolate; petals (3-) 5-15 mm long, pink or purple (rarely white).
........5 Stems erect, usually > 5 dm long; leaf blades 3-8 (-17) cm long, usually prominently crisped/puckered along the margin; flowers all or mostly sessile or subsessile
........5 Stems prostrate to ascending, to 5 dm long; leaf blades 1.5-5 cm long, planar; flowers (at anthesis) mostly on pedicels longer than the calyx.
..........6 Petals 6-13 mm long, about 2× as long as the sepals; mature mericarps slightly roughened or obscurely reticulate
..........6 Petals 3-6 mm long, about 1× as long as the sepals; mature mericarps strongly rugose-reticulate
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