Malacothamnus fasciculatus var. laxiflorus was lumped into var. fasciculatus in some treatments. The most recent research gives phylogenetic, morphological, and geographic evidence supporting recognition of both, though there is a zone of intergradation between the varieties near the border of San Diego and Orange counties in CA. The most recent treatment and POWO recognize var. laxiflorus, so it is split off of var. fasciculatus.
Morse, K. 2023b. Malacothamnus Volume 3: A Revised Treatment of the Genus Malacothamnus (Malvaceae) Based on Morphological and Phylogenetic Evidence. (Link)
Unintended disagreements occur when a parent (B) is
thinned by swapping a child (E) to another part of the
taxonomic tree, resulting in existing IDs of the parent being interpreted
as disagreements with existing IDs of the swapped child.
Identification
ID 2 of taxon E will be an unintended disagreement with ID 1 of taxon B after the taxon swap
If thinning a parent results in more than 10 unintended disagreements, you
should split the parent after swapping the child to replace existing IDs
of the parent (B) with IDs that don't disagree.