[Taxacom] NE USA herbaceous plant ID request

[John Grehan]

I mean Lavatera.

On Fri, Jul 3, 2020 at 10:35 AM John Grehan <calabar.john at gmail.com> wrote:

> My thanks to the respondents. I have sent photos to several and await
> confirmation. At present I am pretty certain that the plant is a species of
> Latavera.
>
> John Grehan
>
> On Thu, Jul 2, 2020 at 11:17 PM John Grehan <calabar.john at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> If I can be forgiven for making a trivial identification request, and
>> hoping that there may be a botanist familiar with herbaceous plants in the
>> northeastern US, I am curious about the identity of a herb growing at my
>> home for which I have not been able to find anything comparable on the web.
>> As I am not native to N America, most herbs are a bit of a mystery to me
>> and don't have any other ready options.  The plant has the following
>> features:
>>
>> About 30 cm in height
>> Appears to be an annual (it turned up at the base of a tree two years
>> ago, disappeared last year, but growing again under the same tree but in a
>> different spot).
>> Flowering now (starting about a week ago in June)
>> Leaves each with a long petiole and in the form of about 4 main branches
>> where the leaf area is reduced to a narrow rim along each main vein and 4-5
>> secondary veins along each main vein (so it looks like a bunch of fingers
>> each with subfingers).
>> Flower is a pale lavender color, actinomorphic
>> 5 short, wide, green sepals, each narrowing to a point
>> Each sepal subtended by shorter and narrower sub-sepal
>> 5 petals (petal length about 20 mm)
>> Distal margin of each petal forming a very shallow V from each corner to
>> the center
>> Reproductive organs on a short 'stem', not quite sure what is what, a
>> mass of short, soft tendrils for the lack of a better word, some ending in
>> slightly enlarged blade like structures, rest lined with pale round
>> objects. Sorry for the vagueness. If anyone was interested and in need for
>> determination I could send a photo.
>>
>> Many thanks,
>>
>> John Grehan
>>
>>