Malacothamnus (bushmallow) is a genus of shrubs found throughout much of mainland California and on three of the Channel Islands.

[1] Malacothamnus are currently thought to be most closely related to the Iliamnas of the US interior and the Phymosias of Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean.

[7] The most recent treatment used a combination of morphological and phylogenetic analyses to help clarify taxon boundaries and which taxa should be recognized, though some taxa still need further research.

This treatment recognizes 21 species and 29 minimum-ranked taxa.

[8][9][10][11][12][13] Species included in the most recent treatment of the genus[13]