This pink flower grows on a fairly tall flower stalk and quickly catches your eye as you walk out into the south meadow.
When I got back home and started reading about this wildflower, I saw that there were other checker mallows. In order to distinguish Sidalcea malvaflora ssp. virgata (which I think this one is) from other checker-mallows west of the Cascades, look for hairs arranged in a star pattern and the notched petals.
They have soft, long strands of hair growing at the base of the stems, while shorter strands arranged in a star pattern cover the upper portions of the stems.
This star pattern sounds cool. I am going to go back out there tomorrow to see how noticeable this feature is, and hopefully, I will be able to take a photo of it.
I will give you an update tomorrow.
