Tas. 6595. 
SALVIA COLUMBARIA. 
Native of California. 
Nat. Ord.-Lapratz.—Tribe MonarDeEz. 
- Genus Sanvia,. Linn.; (Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Pl. vol. ii. p. 1194.) 
Satvra (Echinosphace) columbarie; annua, pubescens v. tomentella, caule simplici 
erecto v. basi ramoso, foliis paucis radicalibus petiolatis oblongis pinnatitido- 
lobatis v. 1-2-pinnatifidis, caulinis paucis sessilibus lobatis, lobis rugosis obtusis, 
verticillastris 1-2 purpurascentibus involucrato-bracteatis densifloris, involucri 
foliolis late ovatis v. rotundatis brevibus rigidis spinescentibus recurvis 
integerrimis, bracteis consimilibis membranaceis, floribus parvis, calycis oblongi 
hispidi tubo intus nudo, labio superiore 2-fido segmentis subulatis, inferiore 
multo breviore dentibus 2 recurvis spinescentibus, corolla azurea tubo calyce 
incluso, labio superiore emarginato v. 2-fido, inferiore 3-lobo lobis lateralibus 
brevibus latis, intermedio obcordato profunde 2-fido, filamentis gracilibus. 
S. columbarie, Benth. Lab. Gen. et Sp. p. 302, et in DC. Prodr. vol. xii. p. 349; 
S. Wats. Bot. of California, p. 599. 
A very common Californian annual, remarkable, like so 
many of the annuals of that country, for the bright colour 
of its flowers, or rather of its whole inflorescence, which 
is quite amethystine. It has a wide range in America, 
west of the Rocky Mountains, abounding throughout 
California, and extending eastwards to N evada and south- 
wards to Arizona. It is the “Chia” of the Aborigines, 
whose favourite drink was an infusion of the small seed-like 
fruits in water, to which they impart a mucilage. 
S. columbarie belongs to a very small section of the 
genus, which contains only one other species, and that also 
a Californian one, S. carduacea, Hook., figured at Plate 
4874 of this work, a noble plant introduced by Lobb in 
1855 (see Mr. Isaac Anderson Henry's note to tab. 4884), 
with fringéd corolla-lobes, and a ring of hairs within the 
throat. S. columbarie itself was introduced by Mr. 
Thompson of Ipswich in 1869; though stated to be a 
perennial in De Candolle’s Prodromus, 1b 1s ‘decidedly an 
DECEMBER Ist, 1881. 
