Sphaeralcea ambigua
A.Gray · speciesAt a glance
Sources11 archives
Databases and archives Sphaeralcea ambigua's data was compiled from.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation3 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility10 058 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI6 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics12 specimens↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinesequences↗
GRIN TaxonomyUSDA-ARSdistribution & uses↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
CCDBChromosome Counts DB · Tel Aviv U.genome & karyotype↗
PloiDBPloidy Databasegenome & karyotype
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗Every layer below draws on the sources above — open one to explore it, or use ← → to move between tabs.
Sphaeralcea ambigua, is a species of flowering plant commonly known as desert globemallow or apricot mallow, is a member of the genus Sphaeralcea in the mallow family (Malvaceae). It is a perennial shrub native to parts of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico in the United States and Sonora and Baja California in northwest Mexico. It grows well in alkaline soil, both sandy or clay, usually in the company of creosote bush scrub and desert chaparral habitats, at 150 – in elevation. It is found in the Mojave Desert, Great Basin desert, and Sonoran Desert ecoregions. It is a larval host to the common checkered skipper, northern white skipper, painted lady, small checkered skipper, and West Coast lady.The Xerces Society (2016), Gardening for Butterflies: How You Can Attract and Protect Beautiful, Beneficial Insects, Timber Press.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
Size & morphology4
Life cycle & reproduction26
Diet & foraging1
Habitat & environment23
Physiology & chemistry25
Uses & economy15
Other traits6
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Sphaeralcea ambigua has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
The complete instruction manual Sphaeralcea ambigua carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Chromosomes & ploidyhow the DNA is packaged
2n is the full chromosome count in a normal body cell; n is a gamete (egg or sperm), which carries half. Ploidy is how many complete chromosome sets each cell holds — 2× (diploid) is typical for animals, while higher levels (polyploidy) are common in plants. Click any value below to see the underlying records and sources.
2n 102×CCDB · book-fedorov · CCDB · book-atlas-flowering-plants
2n 301×CCDB · ipcn-api-dl
2n 371×CCDB · book-ipcn67-71
polyploid inferred1×PloiDB · genus-scale
Record type10 058 records
Origin
Range
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Holding institutions53 of 78 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
| Institution | Specimens |
|---|---|
| ASUlocation not on record | 211 |
| Riverside, US | 164 |
| Claremont, US | 125 |
| Phoenix, US | 94 |
| San Diego, US | 71 |
| Flagstaff, US | 67 |
| Santa Barbara, US | 59 |
| Bronx, US | 45 |
| US | 43 |
| Los Angeles, US | 34 |
| University of Stellenboschlocation not on record | 33 |
| Mexico City, MX | 30 |
| Davis, US | 28 |
| Eastern Nevada Landscape Coalitionlocation not on record | 20 |
| Austin, US | 19 |
| Provo, US | 18 |
| Logan, US | 18 |
| Arcata, US | 16 |
| Mexico City, MX | 13 |
| San Bernardino, US | 11 |
| San Luis Obispo, US | 10 |
| La Paz, MX | 10 |
| Henderson, US | 10 |
| Irvine, US | 10 |
| Northridge, US | 10 |
| Long Beach, US | 10 |
| Pullman, US | 9 |
| EL PASO, US | 8 |
| San Jose State University, Museum of Birds and Mammalslocation not on record | 8 |
| CASlocation not on record | 8 |
| Severin-McDaniel Insect Collectionlocation not on record | 7 |
| Bureau of Land Managementlocation not on record | 7 |
| Canadian Department of Agriculturelocation not on record | 6 |
| Ensenada, MX | 6 |
| DOI/NPS, Colonial National Historical Parklocation not on record | 6 |
| USFSlocation not on record | 5 |
| Angwin, US | 5 |
| San Jose, US | 5 |
| DOI/NPS, Little Rock Central High School National Historic Sitelocation not on record | 5 |
| Chongqing Museumlocation not on record | 4 |
| Turlock, US | 4 |
| Arizona Western Collegelocation not on record | 4 |
| Musee des Dinosaures d'Esperaza (Aude)location not on record | 4 |
| Bangkok, TH | 4 |
| Hermosillo, MX | 4 |
| Orem, US | 3 |
| Albuquerque, US | 3 |
| Wuzhou, CN | 3 |
| The University of Arizonalocation not on record | 3 |
| Bloomington, US | 3 |
| Denver, US | 3 |
| Austin, US | 2 |
| Saint Louis, US | 2 |
| Durango, MX | 2 |
| Fort Worth, US | 2 |
| Boise, US | 2 |
| Arizona State University Biocollectionslocation not on record | 2 |
| Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Méxicolocation not on record | 1 |
| University of Southern Mississippilocation not on record | 1 |
| Acadia Universitylocation not on record | 1 |
| Chapel Hill, US | 1 |
| Moscow, US | 1 |
| Mérida, MX | 1 |
| Juriquilla, MX | 1 |
| Calabar, NG | 1 |
| MEXUlocation not on record | 1 |
| Santa Cruz, US | 1 |
| US | 1 |
| Lubbock, US | 1 |
| Weber State Universitylocation not on record | 1 |
| Clemson, US | 1 |
| WTUlocation not on record | 1 |
| Tampa, US | 1 |
| Whitewater, US | 1 |
| Millersville, US | 1 |
| Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record | 1 |
| DOI/NPS, Greenbelt Parklocation not on record | 1 |
| INFlocation not on record | 1 |
Where the DNA of Sphaeralcea ambigua was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Where its DNA was found
How strong is each trace?
Modelled climatemodelled
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.