MINT FAMILY 635 



14. ACANTHOMINTHA A. Gray, ex Benth. & Hook. Gen. PI. 2:1192, 1876. 



Annual, glabrous or pubescent, aromatic herbs, with denticulate, serrulate or entire 

 leaves. Flowers verticillate in the axils of the upper leaves, each whorl subtended by a 

 pair of leaves and several conspicuous membranous bracts with callous margins armed 

 with several slender divergent spines. Calyx 2-lipped ; upper lip with 3 aristate teeth, the 

 lower with 2 oblong acute or spine-tipped lobes. Corolla 2-lipped, white or tinged with 

 rose, and the palate cream-yellow ; upper lip entire or erect or 2-lobed at apex and falcate; 

 lower lip reflexed, broadly 3-lobed; tube well-exserted, with a funnelform throat. Stamens 

 inserted high on the throat, the lower pair antheriferous, the upper pair shorter and their 

 anthers slightly smaller, or in one species obsolete or rudimentary. Style slender, 2-lobed, 

 the lower lobe longer. Nutlets ovoid, smooth. [Name Greek, meaning thorn and mint.] 



A unique Calif ornian genus of 3 species. Type species, Acanthomintha ilicifolia A. Gray. 



Upper lip of corolla more or less arcuate-falcate, 2-lobed at apex; style pubescent; anthers glabrous. 



1. A. lanceolata. 



Upper lip erect, 3-4 mm. long, galeate; style glabrous. 



Anthers villous or pubescent, all 4 developed. 2. A. ohovata. 



Anthers often minutely papillate, otherwise glabrous, only 2 developed, those on the shorter upper filaments 

 obsolete or rudimentary. 3. A. ihctfoha. 



1. Acanthomintha lanceolata Curfan. Santa Clara Thornmint. Fig. 4400. 



Acanthomintha lanceolata Curran, Bull. Calif. Acad. 1: 13. 1884. 



Annual, the stems branching or sometimes simple, 10-25 cm. high, retrorsely_ puberulent 

 and more or less glandular-pubescent or -villous, especially above whh spreading hairs. Leaves 

 broadly ovate to oblong-lanceolate, 1-2 cm. long, entire or minutely denticulate, the uppermost 

 usually prominently spine-tipped, narrowed at base to a petiole about equaling the blade ; bracts 

 oval to oblong-ovate, 8-12 mm. long, glandular-pubescent, membranous with thick callous mar- 

 gins, armed with 7-9 long divergent spines; calyx, including the spinescent teeth, 12 mm. long, 

 villous-pubescent ; corolla white or the tips tinged with pale rose, 20-25 mm. long, glandular- 

 pubescent externally; upper lip 8-10 mm. long, more or less arcuate-falcate, 2-lobed at apex, 

 lower lip spreading, 3-lobed, about as long as the upper or somewhat shorter; all 4 stamens 

 antheriferous ; anthers glabrous ; styles pubescent. 



Dry open slopes, Upper Sonoran Zone; Inner Coast Ranges of California from Calaveras Valley, Mount 

 Hamilton Range, to Priest Valley, Monterey County. Type locality: Calaveras Valley near the boimdary of Ala- 

 meda and Santa Clara Counties. April-June. 



2. Acanthomintha obovata Jepson. San Benito Thornmint. Fig. 4401. 



Acanthomintha obovata Jepson, Man. Fl. PI. Calif. 873. 1925. 



Low annual, stems branching from near the base, 1-2 dm. high, puberulent. Leaves oblong- 

 lanceolate to ovate or obovate, cuneately narrowed below from near the middle, acute or ob- 

 tusish at apex, 8-12 mm. long, sparsely serrulate or the uppermost often acicular-toothed, densely 

 strigose above, short-pubescent beneath ; petiole often longer than the blades ; bracts broadly 

 ovate to suborbicular, rounded or commonly subcordate at base, glabrate or sparingly puberulent, 

 shining, armed with 7-9 prominent spines ; calyx puberulent, or sometimes also sparingly pubes- 

 cent ; corolla white, or the lips tinged with purple, 15 mm. long; upper lip entire. 4 mm. long, 

 somewhat galeate; anthers conspicuously woolly-pubescent, those of the upper pair of stamens 

 smaller ; style glabrous. 



Dry soils on open slopes. Upper Sonoran Zone; Inner Coast Ranges of California, from San Benito County to 

 northern Ventura County. Type locality: Lorenzo Creek, southern San Benito County, California. April-June. 



Acanthomintha obovata subsp. Duttonii Abrams. Calyx and branches of the inflorescence glabrate or 

 microscopically puberulent; anthers short-pubescent, rather than woolly-villous. 



Calycis puberulentis vel glabriusculis, antheris brevi-pubescentibus. 



Grassy hills, especially on serpentine outcrops, in southern San Mateo County between Redwood City and 

 Woodside, California. Named in honor of Mr. H. A. Dutton, who first discovered the plant in April, 1900. Type, 

 Woodside serpentine, H. A. Dutton (no. 63392 Dudley Herbarium). 



3. Acanthomintha ilicifolia A. Gray. San Diego Thornmint. Fig. 4402. 



Calamintha ilicifolia A. Gray, Proc. Amer. Acad. 8: 368. 1872. 

 Acanthomintha ilicifolia A. Gray, Syn. Fl. N. Amer. 2^: 365. 1878. 



Low annual, stems branching from the base or sometimes simple, 5-15 cm. high, glabrous or 

 sparingly and minutely puberulent. Leaves 5-15 mm. long, cuneately narrowed from about the 

 middle to a petiole of about an equal length, prominently serrate-denticulate above the middle, 

 or those at the apex of the stem with the teeth bristle-tipped, glabrous or sparingly puberulent ; 

 bracts orbicular or broadly cordate, the callous margins armed with 7-9 long slender widely 

 spreading spines, glabrous and shining or microscopically glandular-puberulent ; calyx 5 mm. 

 long, including the acicular teeth, these villous-ciliate on the margins; corolla 12 mm. long, 

 white except the lobes of the lower lip rose and the palate cream color ; upper lip erect, 3-4 mm. 

 long, entire, strongly concave and somewhat galeate ; lower lip spreading, 5-6 mm. long, 3-lobed, 

 bearing a tuft of prominent hairs toward the base w-ithin ; anther-bearing stamens 2, the upper 

 pair abortive ; anthers minutely papillate, otherwise glabrous ; styles glabrous. 



Dry mesas or hills, usually in gravelly soils, Lower Sonoran Zone; western San Diego County, California, and 

 adjacent Lower California. Type locality: San Diego. April-June. 



