MINT FAMILY 



407 



Kefs.— Salvia spathacea Greene, Pitt. 2:236 (1892) ; Jepson, FI. W. Mid. Cal. 460 (1901), 

 ed. 2, 360 (1911), Man. 869 (1925). Atidibertia grandifiora Bentli., Lab. Gen. et Sp. 312 (1833), 

 type from Cal., Douglas. AudibertieUa grandifiora Briq., Bull. Herb. Boiss. 2:73 (1894). Bamona 

 grandifiora Briq., I.e. 440 (1894) ; not S. grandifiora Etlinger (1777). 



6. S. apiana Jepson. California White Sage. (Fig. 429.) Shrubby, ever- 

 green, 3 to 5 (or 10) feet higb, branches virgate ; leaf-blades oblong to elliptic, 1 to 

 4 inches long, serrulate or subentire, mostly very white pannose-pubescent above 

 and below, short-petioled ; panicle virgate, 1 to 4 feet long ; corolla white or pale 

 lilac, 6 to 9 lines long, the tube short (2 to 3 lines long) ; upper lip very short or 

 almost obsolete, the lower lip much developed, the conspicuous palate curved up- 

 ward so as to close the throat; middle lobe 

 fringed, the lateral lobes small; style and sta- 

 mens long-exserted. 



Dry hills, rocky slopes, mesas and cafion 

 floors, 500 to 4250 (or 5000) feet: cismon- 

 tane and intramontane Southern California 

 from Santa Barbara Co. and northern Los 

 Angeles Co. to San Diego Co. Noi-thern Lower 

 California. May-July. 



Biol. note. — For the botanical traveler Salvia 

 apiana is a striking shrub that endows with marked 

 Interest the caiion floors, mesas and open hills of cis- 

 montane Southern California. The wand-like flower- 

 ing stems, ending above in a terminal racemose panicle, 

 arise from a woody white-leafy base, diverge a little, 

 and make handsome plants 5 to 10 feet high. These 

 flowering stems are nearly naked and much exceed 

 the sterile leafy shoots massed on the lower part of 

 the plant. Everywhere such individuals diversify the 

 vegetation of washes and rocky flood-stream bottoms; 

 they enter the chaparral and are also found on the 

 borders of pure formations of Adenostoma fascicula- 

 tum or mingled with the tall flowering stalks of Yucca 

 whipplei on caiion slopes. They may become very 

 large. On the flat three miles south of Aguanga a 

 shrub with 125 shoots from the base was, in 1939, 13 

 feet broad and 10 feet high. 



This species is an important bee-food plant. The 

 upper lip of corolla is very short, inconspicuous, and 

 deflexed over mouth of corolla-tube ; the stamens are 

 set well out on the palate of the lower lip. Bees alight- 

 ing on the flowers bear down on the palate by their weight so as to thrust their tongues into the 

 tube. They are not influenced by the color or age of the corolla ; one that is brown-wilted is entered 

 as readily as a fresh white one ; but if the flower is past anthesis, the stamens and style no longer 

 functional, they leave it almost instantly. In favorable situations each stand of bees will yield 

 about one hundred pounds of White Sage honey in a season. The honey is extremely clear and 

 white. By the Diegueno Indians the plant was called kaw-se-4-tl. They harvested the seed for 

 food. (Cf. Jepson Field Book, 27:99,-1913; 30:160,-1914; 37:127,-1920. ms.) 



Locs. — Cismontane S. Cal.: Billiard Flats, Santa Inez River, Santa Barbara Co., A. L. Grant 

 1676; Santa Catalina Isl. (Erythea 7:139) ; Mt. Lowe foothills, Peirson 180; San Gabriel Canon, 

 San Gabriel Mts., C. E. Hutchinson ; Cajon Pass, Jepson; San Bernardino, Jepson 5557; San Ja- 

 cinto Lake (hills near), Jepson 1238; San Pasqual Valley (hills e.), Jepson; Hot Springs Mt., 

 San Diego Co., Jepson; Santa Ysabel, Jepson; Witch Creek, San Diego Co., AMerson. Intramon- 

 tane S. Cal. (on mountain slopes and foothills facing the western Mohave Desert and western 

 Colorado Desert) : Leonis Valley, n. Los Angeles Co., Davy 2640; Big Rock Creek, n. slope San 

 Gabriel Mts., Mum 6881; West Caiion, Mt. San Jacinto, L. D. Copeland ; Collins Valley, no. San 

 Diego Co., Jepson; Wagon Wash, below San Felipe Valley (near Sentenac Canon) , Jepson 12,510 ; 

 Box Canon, Mason Valley, Jepson 8705 ; Mountain Sprs. (summit above) , e. San Diego Co., Jepson. 

 Var. compacta Munz. Inflorescence an interrupted spike of globose whorl-like clusters, 

 compacted, the flowering branchlets short. — Northwest arm of the Colorado Desert, near Morongo 

 Pass. South to northern Mexico. 



Refs.— Salvia .u>iana Jepson, Muhl. 3:144 (1908), Fl. W. Mid. Cal. ed. 2, 359 (1911), Man. 

 872 (1925). Audibertia polystachya Benth., Lab. Gen. et Sp. 314 (1833), type from Cal., Douglas. 



Fig. 429. Salvia apiana Jepson. 

 lower leaves, X % ; b, panicle, X 

 c, fl., X IV2 ; d, stamen, X 2Y2. 



