Index / Search / Physocarpus malvaceus
§1 Plant — species · Rosaceae
Physocarpus malvaceus (Greene) Kuntze
vernacular mallow ninebark
§2Habit & range
Habit and range
- Growth habit
- Shrub
- Duration
- Perennial
- Group
- Dicot
- Family
- Rosaceae Juss.
- Genus
- Physocarpus
§2a
Native status, by region
- CAN Canada Native
- L48 Lower 48 States Native
§3Cultivation specs · USDA
Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.
§3a
Tolerances
- Drought
- High
- Shade
- High
- Moisture use
- Low
- Fire
- High
- Salinity
- None
- Anaerobic
- Low
- CaCO₃
- High
§3b
Climate & soil
- Cold tolerance
- -33 °F minimum
- Frost-free days
- 120 min.
- Precipitation
- 17–40 in/yr
- pH range
- 6–7.5
- Root depth
- 24 in min.
- Fertility need
- Low
- Soil texture
- coarse, medium, fine
§3c
Form & growth
- Growth form
- Multiple Stem
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Lifespan
- Long
- Mature height
- 15 ft
- Height @ 20 y
- 15 ft
- Foliage texture
- Medium
- Foliage colour
- Green
- Porosity (summer)
- Dense
- Porosity (winter)
- Moderate
- Flower colour
- White
- Fruit colour
- Brown
- Fire resistant
- No
- N fixation
- None
- Toxicity
- None
§3d
Reproduction
- Bloom period
- Late Spring
- Seed abundance
- Low
- Seed begins
- Summer
- Seed ends
- Fall
- Spread rate
- Slow
- Stratify
- No
- Seeds / lb
- 753,000
- Propagation
- seed, bare root, container
§3e
Use & availability
- Commercial availability
- Contracting Only
- Nursery stock
- Yes
- Browse palatability
- Medium
- Graze palatability
- Low
- Palatable, human
- No
- Protein potential
- Low
- Lumber
- No
- Christmas tree
- No
§4Montana distribution
Recorded in 21 of 56 Montana counties.
Native · 21 counties
- Beaverhead 30001
- Carbon 30009
- Fergus 30027
- Gallatin 30031
- Granite 30039
- Jefferson 30043
- Judith Basin 30045
- Lake 30047
- Lewis and Clark 30049
- Lincoln 30053
- Madison 30057
- Meagher 30059
- Mineral 30061
- Missoula 30063
- Park 30067
- Petroleum 30069
- Powell 30077
- Ravalli 30081
- Sanders 30089
- Stillwater 30095
- Teton 30099
§5Sources & provenance
USDA PLANTS
Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.
plants.usda.gov/PHMA5 ↗GBIF Backbone
Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.
gbif.org/species/2988332 ↗Record version
Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:
usda-plants-mt-2026-05-25
fetched 2026-05-25T16:28:53Z