View photos of the edible and medicinal plant, Sidalcea glaucescens (Waxy checkermallow).

View photos of the edible and medicinal plant Sidalcea neomexicana (Checkermallow), profiled in Medicinal Plants of the Western Mountain States and the Wild Edible Series: Colorado, Nevada, and Utah.

A passage from Medicinal Plants of the Western Mountain States:

Drink Checkermallow tea as a gentle urinary soother: painful urination and regional tissue irritation is often quieted with its use. The plant should also be tried for random low–level renal inflammations, especially if the usual suspects have been eliminated: dietary irritants (caffeine, artificial sweeteners, food dyes, miscellaneous plant compounds, tannins, etc.), active urinary stone involvement, and/or congenial–genetic nephritis.

A passage from Wild Edible Plants of Colorado:

Belonging to the Mallow family, all parts of Checkermallow are mucilaginous (slimy, like Okra) when crushed or chewed.

A passage from Wild Edible Plants of Utah:

S. neomexicana has a wider inter–mountain
western range, though in Utah, it’s found mainly in the north to south traversing mountains.