404 LABIATAE 



west side of these mountains, thus giving a longitudinal range of approximately fifteen miles. 

 The locale of the main station is approached over a sandy wagon trail that branches off to the right 

 from the Box Caiion highway northeast of Mecca. Dos Palmas Spring, sixteen miles beyond 

 Mecca, is a flowing spring near the ancient Salton Sea shore line, elevation three feet below sea 

 level. It is an uninhabited oasis characterized by scattered groups of Washingtonia filifera grow- 

 ing in brackish marshy ground with Scirpus, Typha and J uncus. From Dos Palmas the road 

 follows the ancient beach line in an easterly direction across the rocky slopes. Smngiiig north- 

 easterly a few miles above the spring it climbs gradually into the Big Salt Creek wash, locally 

 known as the Big Chuckwalla. This wash separates the Orocopia Mountains from tlie Chocolate 

 and Chuckwalla ranges that rise three to four thousand feet above the Salton Sea basin. 



After leaving Dos Palmas, no more water is found until Clemens Well is reached, ten miles 

 beyond. Between these two points, the main colony of Salvia greatae occurs at an elevation of 

 500 feet. Four miles above Dos Palmas, Peucephyllum schottii, Hoffmannseggia, and Olneya 

 tesota begin to appear in company -n-ith Larrea, Franseria and Parosela schottii, — plants that char- 

 acterize the desert vegetation of this region. The first isolated specimens of Salvia greatae come 

 in at this point, but the main colony lies two and a half miles further on. Then for a mile and 

 a half it is found in abundance on both sides of the wagon trail and extends one hundred and fifty 

 yards or more on the left toward the mountains. The colony thins out as it approaches the foot of 

 the Orocopias and only small scattered colonies occur in the narrow caiions. That it occurs in any 

 abundance within these mountains is doubtful. Seven and a half miles from Dos Palmas the trail 

 drops into the sandy wash of Big Salt Creek where the plants disappear altogether. 



Two and a half miles beyond this main station may be found a small scattered colony growing 

 along a narrow canon above Clemens Well at the northwest end of the Chocolate Mountains, the 

 elevation 800 feet. Here it occurs in association with Lycium, Krameria, Larrea, Franseria, En- 

 celia and Atriplex hymenelytra. It was not found in canons three and a half miles up the wash 

 where the wagon trail liecomes impassable in deep sand. 



Within the heart of its large, main colony Salvia greatae is the dominant shrub, although in 

 only a few places are the colonies pure. Parosela schottii is plentiful, often growing in close 

 proximity. Cercidium, Olneya and Parosela spinosa occur less frequently. Hymenoclea, Larrea, 

 and Encelia are abundant associates on the mesas, while Hyptis emoryi and Nicotiana trigono- 

 phylla appear with it as the colonies reach into the more rugged and rocky areas. 



Because of the slight irregular rainfall in this region, Salvia greatae varies greatly from year 

 to year. In dry years its general appearance is that of a low bushy plant with many spiny dead- 

 looking branches, the brittle white ends of which often terminate in tightly whorled spirals. By 

 the first week in April young shoots begin to appear on the ends of apparently dead branches as 

 well as deep within the center of the bush. Blossoms appear in April, depending upon the tempera- 

 ture and amount of rainfall that year. In favorable seasons, when there has been adequate preci- 

 pitation, the amount of new growth is materially increased and far surpasses the amount of dead 

 wood, at which times the plants increase in height and may be found in bloom as early as the first 

 week of April. On April 17, 1938, however, the season being dry, all the plants appeared dormant, 

 although close inspection showed most were sending out a few new shoots. Only one small flower- 

 ing spray was found. At this time the majority of the plants bore over three fourths old wood, 

 aljout a half of which was dead wood. The leaves of the preceding year persist, bleaching white, 

 but as the stems are very brittle the leaves tend to sliatter if disturbed. The plants average two 

 to four feet in height, rarely five feet. It is not uncommon to see three or more plants growing 

 closely together and forming a dense rounded clump five or more feet in diameter. No young 

 plants were found. 



The main stems are cylindric and average one inch in diameter, brandling near the ground 

 into many spiny interlaced woody stems. There are no crown sprouts. The taproot descends 

 deeply into the loose gravel and rocks of the bajadas, which is the preferred habitat. Because of 

 tlie bushy ground-branching habit, the plants tend to garner sand about the base, the branches 

 pushing up through the loose sand and gravel. 



Salvia greatae is largely a plant of desert mesas and bajadas. Although some individuals 

 inhabit canons, they tend on the whole to disappear on the more precipitous slopes, and to avoid 

 sandy washes altogether." — Marjorie D. Clary, Colorado Desert, Sept. 12, 1938. 



Refs. — S.^LViA GREATAE Bdg., Zoe 5 :229 (1906), type loc. Canon Springs wash, Orocopia Mts., 

 4 mi. ne. of Dos Palmas, Colorado Desert, Sail # Greata 5848 (typ. vidi) ; Jepson, Man. 868 (1925). 



4. S. columbariae Benth. Chia. (Fig. 427.) Stems 1 or several from the 

 base, commonly simple and bearing 1 or 2 pairs of leaves and 1 or 2 (rarely 3 or 4) 

 whorls of flowers, puberulent, 3 to 15 inches (or 2^ «> feet) high ; leaves mostly basal 

 or sub-basal, the blades bipinnatifid, very rugose, finely pubescent and dark green 

 above, puberulent or tomentulose beneath, 1 to 2y2 inches long, petioled ; bracts 

 ovate or more commonly orbicular and broader than long, abruptly acuminate and 

 cuspidate-tipped, sliorter than the calyces, often purple ; fruiting calyx 5 lines 

 long, oblique at the throat, its upper lip arched, crowned with a pair of needle-like 



