Iliamna remota is a very rare native flower in the same family as hollyhock. I just think they're neat.
Image source: wiki commons, shot by Evan Barker.
From Missouri Botanical Gardens:
Iliamna remota is a wild hollyhock first discovered in 1872 on a gravelly river island (Langham Island) in the Kankakee River near Altorf, Illinois, where it still grows. It is not known to be native to any other area in the world, and is one of the rarest native American plants. A clump-forming, erect plant which features mallow-like, five-petaled flowers up to 2.5" across on spikes growing 4-6' tall. Flowers are apple blossom to bluish pink fading to white toward the center with a noticeable central column of stamens. Seven-lobed leaves are maple-like and to 6" across. Flowers bloom in early summer and then give way to pod-like fruits. Genus name is of Greek derivation. Specific epithet means scattered.
Information from Plants of the Chicage Region, Floyd Swink & Gerould Wilhelm:
Iliamna remota Greene B,C,F,J,M) KANKAKEE MALLOW The only place in the world where this species occurs as a native plant is on Langham Island at Altorf in the Kankakee River in Kankakee County. Other collections of Iliamna remota, such as the one from Elkhart County, Indiana, represent deliberately introduced populations. Although historically, Langham Island was abused by farming and grazing, Kankakee Mallow still grows there in good numbers, particularly on the south-facing rocky bank, with Arabis laevigata, Asarum canadense, Aster sagittifolius, Camassia scilloides, Campanula americana, Carex blanda, Carex leavenworthi, Carex oligocarpa, Cerastium arvense villosum, Cercis canadensis, Clematis virginiana, Cornus racemosa, Corydalis micrantha, Ellisia nyctelea, Erigeron annuus, Fraxinus quadrangulata, Gum canadense, Hydrophyllum virginianum, Hypericum sphaerocarpum, Parthenocissus quinquefolia, Perideridia americana, Quercus macrocarpa, Quercus velutina, Rhus radicans, Rosa carolina, Smilacina racemosa, Smilax tamnoides hispida, Solidago canadensis, Tilia americana, Tradescantia ohiensis, Ulmus americana, Viola missouriensis, and Vitis riparia. Schwegman (1991a) recorded a flora of the island. - - - The closely related Iliamna core Sherff is endemic to Peters Mountain in Virginia. The phytogeographical implications of these disjuncts are of profound interest. There has been speculation as to whether the Virginia and Illinois populations do indeed constitute separate species, and in fact Kartesz & Kartesz (1980) and Gleason & Cronquist (1991) include the Virginia plants with I. remota. Fernald (1950a) pointed out the differences, and the interested student is further referred to the comments by Murray (1933) and the treatments by Sherff (1946 & 1949). 2 JUL - 29 AUG. UPL. C = 10
Information from a fellow grower who has had high germination rate:
Basically, pour from a boiling kettle over the seeds and sow on surface, no cold stratification needed
Here is a collection of general information about Iliamna remota:
Here are some places to possibly get seed to grow your own and information about stratifying the seeds to improve success rates.
