August 10, 2012
In the backyard at our offices, we have a Desert Mallow bush that grew there in its wild way—without being planted. It sprouted up a couple years ago and now every spring it explodes into an enormous green and fiery orange bush.
My attention was first drawn to this flower when several years ago, I was commissioned by a private club spa to collect flower essences from their property that would be most needed and beneficial to their members. (Typically, flowers that grow in an area are those whose benefits are needed most by the people that are drawn to that place.)
I went flower collecting on two different occasions—on one of those, the spa director, Sharon Narduzzi came with. We walked around and saw which flowers spoke to us. One of the flowers we loved was the orange Desert Mallow. Among the blossoming flowers were buds that looked like lipstick, reminiscent of a flushed pink face with darker lips ... kind of like when you’ve had a little exercise and are a bit flushed—you feel youthful and dewy and gorgeous.
If you are attracted to the Desert Mallow flower, you may realize you are being too harsh on yourself or others. You may feel like you are "old" or jaded about life.
Desert Mallow dissolves anxiety, unrest and a desire to run, along with dizziness, shallow breathing or jaw tension. It softens any rough edges of your character, behavior or self-talk, and shows you the power of gentle, joyful acceptance and warmheartedness.
Desert Mallow is a happy flower that’s seemingly understated and quiet. It’s a wildflower in the quiet desert—and sometimes it’s the discreet wildflowers that make the strongest impression.
Sometimes it is the soft touch or the soft voice that we remember most.
Its leaves are silvery green & fuzzy soft to the touch. And soft is the effect that this flower has on us—very tender. It helps us be more sweet-tempered with ourselves and feel more beautiful. If you feel like dressing up one day, go for it! If you feel like taking more time for self-care, do it. Bask in the soft, gentle warmheartedness of this flower and of yourself during this time.
Desert Mallow gives you a sense of your own beauty—or rather it shows you your own beauty—allowing you to see yourself in a new sparkly light. It magnifies a sense of youthful vitality and innocence and gives a youthful glow to the skin. It softens your heart and your character—you may find yourself responding to people in an extra compassionate way. More than anything it enhances your ability to love yourself and respond more gently with yourself. Desert Mallow helps you sit up taller, with more confidence, and it encourages deeper breathing. It also helps you see the fruits or benefits of staying in one place or environment. It’s not limited to a place—it can also help you see more clearly the benefits of focusing on doing one thing or working on one project for a while.
Otherwise known as Globe Mallow, Desert Mallow (Sphaeralcea ambigua) is an exquisite wildflower that grows in the springtime in Arizona. They can also be found anywhere in the the Mojave and Sonoran deserts in Utah, California, Nevada and Baja Mexico. Desert Mallows are a yummy treat to bighorn sheep and goats.
Desert Mallow flowers range from pink to apricot to fiery red orange. Some even have white, purple or bluish hues! The flowers are cup-like, and each stem has many flowers growing up from the stem all the way up to the top of the plant. They grow in three-foot tall, three-foot wide splashes of color that stretch in all directions. The flowers have five petals and the blossoms brighten up whole hillsides with waves of color.
Some other names for this flower are Desert Hollyhock and Sore-Eye Poppy. The latter name refers to the soft little hairs that are on the leaves, which can be an eye irritant. Seen under a microscope, the little hairs are star-shaped.
There are nine species of Desert Mallow in California and 16 in Arizona. Desert Mallow flowers belong to the larger genus family of Malvaceae (Mallow) family, in which you’ll find plants such as Hollyhock, Hibiscus, Okra and Cotton.
Desert Mallow leaves are soft & fuzzy to the touch—the same as leaves of other flowers in the Mallow family. The Doctrine of Signatures would indicate that Mallows are good for soothing and healing the skin, because the leaves are soft.
It’s so dry in Arizona, you’d have a hard time finding any dew on the Desert Mallow flowers. In springtime, when a breeze comes through, you’ll see all the Desert Mallow flowers swaying back and forth in the wind. All throughout the spring, you’ll see them vibrant and green with carpets of orange flowers in the valleys and along the roads driving north from the low desert into the high elevation desert of Arizona.
Magnifies: Youthful innocence and vitality; a sense of your own beauty; softening the heart and character; youthful glow; sitting up taller with more confidence and deeper breaths; experiencing the fruits of staying in one place or environment
Dissolves: High levels of stress, unrest, a desire to run; dizziness; jaw tension; shallow breathing
Illuminate your greatest purpose through self-healing. Unveil your sacred offering & clarify your expression. Attract community & magnify your powerful presence.
Along with being one of the flowers featured in the Divine Truth Collection, Desert Mallow is also available as a single elixir.
Because each flower has its own unique specialty, single flower elixirs can target very specific patterns. The effects of single flower elixirs are often more subtle, yet they go deeper, hitting the bullseye. While it may take longer to discern the shifts taking place, the effects can be profound.
Love + flower petals,