390 



LABIATAE 



Field note. — Trichostema lanceolatura ia a characteristic dry season plant of late summer and 

 autumn on arid treeless clay plains, valley floors and open slopes of the foothOls at a time when 

 they are summer-whitened by the dead annual vegetation of the previous rainy season. In such 

 habitats it may form extensive colonies for a hundred yards or for miles or even for leagues and 

 is often the only living plant of its season where it ilourishes most abundantly, though it is again, 

 frequently, an associate of Eremocarpus setigerus. It is, however, absent in the main or wholly 

 from the alluvial flood-plain floors of the Great Valley where the rich loams contain a high organic 

 content. The plant may consist of a single unbranched axis; more frequently the main axis is 

 superseded by the many branches arising near the ground. On such branches the flowers turn out- 

 ward and the leaves bend inwards and stand in two indistinctly defined rows behind the axis of the 

 branch. The leaves are often twisted or incurved at tip ; frequently the sides are involute in such 

 a way as to make the blade nearly tubular. The upper lobes of the corolla are tubular-involute or 



twisted, spreading after the manner of two horns, the 

 long Ijaekward sweeping curve of the stamens retreating 

 from their notch. The lateral lobes of the lower lip are 

 similar to the lobes of the upper lip but are not so strongly 

 involute nor so strongly spreading. The middle lobe of 

 the lower lip curves outward and downward, its sides 

 turned upwards so as to resemble a shallow trough. The 

 odor of the flowers is extremely heavy. This species is 

 a bee plant and considered of importance in the honey 

 industry. 



Locs. — Coastal S. Cal. : San Diego ; Riverside ; Clare- 

 mont, San Bernardino Valley, C. F. Baker 3728 ; Los An- 

 geles, E. D. Palmer ; Calabasas, sw. San Fernando Valley, 

 Jepson 20,186; Ojai Valley, Thacher 41 ; Santa Barbara, 

 L. E. Hunt. W. Mohave Desert: Palmdale, Voglit (herb- 

 age notably strigose). Coast Ranges: Posts, Santa Lucia 

 Mts., Jepson 2585 ; Milpitas, R. J. Smith; Alvarado, Ala- 

 meda Co., Jepson 14,879; Healdsburg, Jepson 9430; Pet- 

 rified Forest, Sonoma Co., Jepson 14,883 ; Rumsey, w. 

 Yolo Co., Jepson 16,744; Gravelly Valley, Eel River, n. 

 Lake Co., Jepson 14,884; Devoy Flat. South Fork Eel 

 River, Jepson 9466 ; Phillipsville, cent. Humboldt Co., 

 Jepson 17,874 ; head of Canoe Creek, Humboldt Co., Tracy 

 4759; Yreka. Bntler 1793. Groat Valley: betw. Tulare 

 and Tulare Lake, Palmer 2695; Kettleman Plain, w. 

 Kings Co., Jepson 20,224 ; Fresno, I. T. Waller; El Nido, 

 12 mi. s. of Merced, Hoover 1598 ; Vacaville, Jepson 

 14,882; Winters, Jepson 14.881; Chieo, E. A. Dutton; 

 Red Bluff, Tehama Co., Jepson 15,278. Sierra Nevada 

 foothills: betw. Weldon and Isabella, Kern Co., Voege- 

 lin ; Three Rivers, Tulare Co., Jepson ; Knights Ferry, 

 San ford 174; near Marble Creek, Eldorado Co., H. M. 

 Wheeler; Big Chico Creek, Butte Co., Heller 11,137; 

 Montgomery Creek, Shasta Co., 31. S. Baker. 

 Refs. — Teichostema lanceolattjm Benth., Lab. Gen. et Sp. 659 (1835), type loc. Fort Van- 

 couver, Columbia River, Douglas; Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. Cal. 453 (1901), ed. 2, 354 (1911), Man. 

 862 (1925). 



Fig. 422. 

 TUM Benth, 

 fl. X 1%; 



X 2% ; (l, fr., X 21/0. 



Trichostem.4 lanceola- 



(I, fl. branchlet, X Vi ; b, 



e, upper part of stamen. 



6. T. ovatmn Curran. Alkali Blue Curls. Stem stout, simple or branched 

 from base, rather crowded with leaves. 6 to 18 inches high ; herbage densely villous ; 

 leaf-blades ovate, apieulate with a callous cusp, 6 to 10 lines long, subsessile ; calyx- 

 lobes lanceolate, attenuate, villous; corolla S^/o lines long, the tube somewhat ex- 

 serted; stamens long-exserted ; nutlets rugose, the upper half or even the whole 

 surface rather densely hairy-pubescent, 1 line long. 



Alkaline plains. 200 to 1000 feet : upper San Joaquin Vallej' plain and its bor- 

 dering foothills, from Fresno Co. to Kern Co. June- Aug. 



Geog. note. — The geographic distribution of Trichostema ovatum, a species formerly thought 

 to be rare, has recently become better knoixni. An inhabitant of alkali flats, it occur.s widely over 

 the full area of the upper San Joaquin Valley in suitable stations. Within the limits of its range 

 it is quite as abund.ant as Trichostema lanceolatum, with which it is sometimes associated. In vali- 

 dation of the frequency of occurrence the following localities are cited: Mendota, Fresno Co., 

 Hoover 2616 ; Kerman, Fresno Co., Hoover 2589 ; Raisin City, Fresno Co., Hoover 2319 ; Kettleman 

 Hills near Avenal, Kings Co., Hoover 2041 ; Earlimart, Tulare Co., Hoover 2677 ; Lost Hills (5 mi. 

 n.), Kern Co., Hoover 2670; Famosa, Kern Co., Hoover 2674; Bakersfield, Davy 2400; Sunset 

 (Pioneer), near Maricopa, Watts. 



