hollyhock, Alcea rosea

Here we have a hollyhock with active stamens. These flowers are, for lack of better terms, protandrous, or sequentially hermaphrodites, or dichogamous. Those terms are all used to describe species that first have one set of organs active, then the other. Look up one and your liable to run into all of those labels. While they are used to describe different ways this happens, in any given article they too often are used interchangeably. Anyway, this is a strategy that helps plants insure cross pollination. Hollyhocks have been recorded doing a wild sex change in CA, CO, CT, DE, FL, GA, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, MA, MD, MI, MN, MO, MS, MT, NC, ND, NE, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, OR, PA, RI, SD, YN, TX, UT, VA, VT, WA, WI, WV, WY, MB, NB, ON, and QC. Huerfano Co CO, 6/24/13. Mallow family, Malvaceae.