MINT FAMILY 409 



Locs. — Pinon Well, Bear Lookout Mt., Conchilla Range, Jepson 5998; Morongo Wash, e. base 

 San Bernardino Mts., Parish 3233; Palm Caiion of Mt. San Jacinto, Jepson 1380; Yaqui Well, 

 betw. Sentenac Canon and San Felipe Narrows, w. Colorado Desert, Jepson 12,511; Palm Caiion 

 of Mt. San Ysidro, Duran 3177; near Mountain Sprs., w. Imperial Co., Meyer 425. 



Eefs. — Salvia vaseyi Parish, Muhl. 3:126 (1907); Jepson, Man. 871 (1925). Audihertia 

 vaseyi Porter, Bot. Gaz. 0:207 (1881), type loc. Mountain Sprs., San Diego Co., Vasey 500. Audi- 

 bertiella vaseyi Brii]., Bull. Herb. Boiss. 2:73 (189-1). Eamona vaseyi Briq., I.e. 440 (1894). 



9. S. sonomensis Greene. Creeping Sage. Flowering branches almost leaf- 

 less and soape-like, 4 to 12 inches high, ascending from a densely leafy mat-like base ; 

 leaf -blades obloug to obovate-spatulate, crenulate, green and rngulose above, whit- 

 ish with a close dense tomentiim beneath, 1 to 2 (or 3) inches long, on petioles iXj 

 to as long ; flower-whorls 2 to 8 ; calyx like that of S. mellif era, but the prickly 

 teeth of the larger upper lip short; corolla light violet, 5 to 6 lines long ; upper lip 

 short, of two erect or somewhat retrocurved lanceolate lobes ; lower lip large, much 

 prolonged in the direction of tube, the lateral lobes acute, short, the middle lobe 

 with its orbicular-dilated terminal portion turned abruptly downward, its margin 

 denticulate or somewhat fringed ; upper (sterile) stamens inserted at orifice of tube, 

 bristle-like, divergent; two lower (fertile) stamens inserted on lower lip without 

 the orifice, ascending, straight (nearly as long as the corolla) ; style long-exserted. 



Gravelly soil of mountain slopes and canons, (200 or) 1000 to 6500 feet, often 

 forming colonies : Sierra Nevada from Lit. Shasta to Mariposa Co. ; Coast Ranges 

 from western Siskiyou Co. to San Luis Obispo Co. ; Cuyamaca Mts. May -June. 



Geog. note. — The range of Salvia sonomensis is discontinuous. It inhabits the northern Sierra 

 Nevada and extends by way of Mt. Shasta into the Coast Eanges as far southward as San Luis 

 Obispo County. Thence there is a wide gap in its distribution before it recurs in the Cuyamaca 

 Mountains in eastern San Diego County. Such a distribution recalls somewhat that of Cercis 

 oecidcntalis as to its range in California. It may also be compared to Ehododendron occidentale, 

 which inhabits the Cuyamaca and other mountains on the west side of the Colorado Desert but, like 

 Salvia sonomensis, Cercis oceidcntalis and other species, does not occur in the San Bernardino and 

 San Gabriel mountains and the high mountains of Santa Barbara County, though recurring north- 

 ward in the Coast Eanges and Sierra Nevada. 



The altitudinal range of Salvia sonomensis may be noted : it is f oimd on Mt. Shasta at Niels 

 Camp at about 6500 feet and occurs as low as the stream beds west of Calistoga on the Napa Valley 

 floor at 300 feet. It is most commonly found in open woods or in thin chaparral. A typical haliitat 

 may be described as follows: One mile north of Pleasant Valley in the Sierra Nevada foothills of 

 Eldorado County it is a frequent plant on a hillslope in a chaparral association of Adenostoma 

 fasciculatum, Arctostaphylos viscida, Ccanothus cuneatus, Photinia arbutifolia, Erjodictyon cali- 

 fornicum and Quercus wislizenii scrub. The lower portion of the slope was cleared a few years 

 since, perhaps in 1936. On this clearing the Creeping Salvia promptly became a dominant, form- 

 ing a somewhat interrupted rough mat over the entire area of about five acres where it is much 

 more luxuriant than in the chaparral. The closely prostrate woody stems of the Salvia have this 

 season developed very short densely leafy branchlets, on the under side of which the recently pro- 

 duced embryonic spiies are now concealed (Apr. 12, 1938) and are very slowly maturing until 

 ready for marked development during the anthesis period. These spikes, very narrow in the 

 embryonic phase, have the peculiarity at this stage that they are closely curved backward or re- 

 versed on their peduncles so as to resemble somewhat a shepherd's crook, and are, therefore quite 

 hidden under the dense tufts of leaves. The structure of corolla of Salvia sonomensis is the same 

 as that of Salvia mellif era save the obsolete upper lip of the former ; the middle lobe of the lower 

 lip in the two species is very close. 



Locs. — Sierra Nevada: Mt. Shasta, Jepson 14,946; Forest Ranch, Butte Co., Heller 11,410; 

 betw. Lake City and Columbia Hill, Nevada Co., L. S. Smith 1578 ; Murphys Camp, Calaveras Co., 

 Davy 1503; Devils Gulch, Mariposa Co., Congdon. Coast Ranges: Sisson, Siskiyou Co., Ilellcr 

 8044 ; East Weaver Creek, Trinity Co., Tates 331 ; Lower Lake, Lake Co., C. F. Balcer 2984 ; Calis- 

 toga (sw. of), Jepson 14,945; betw. Knights Valley and Franz Valley, e. Sonoma Co., Jepson 

 14,947 ; Hoods Peak, se. Sonoma Co., Bioletti; Fremont Peak, Gabilan Eange, Elmer 4518 ; Naci- 

 miento River, west of Jolon, Monterey Co., Jepson 1697 ; Santa Lucia Mts., San Luis Obispo Co., 

 Earlier 1010. Eastern San Diego Co.: Harper ranch near Cuyamaca Lake, Epling; Descanso, 

 T. Brandegee. 



Refs.— Salvia sonomensis Greene, Pitt. 2:236 (1892) ; Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. Cal. 460 (1901), 

 ed. 2, 359 (1911), Man. 870 (1925). Audiieriia humilis Benth., Lab. Gen. et Sp. 313 (1833), type 

 from Va\., Douglas. Eamona humilis Greene, Erythea 1:144 (1893) ; not S. humilis Benth. (1833). 

 Audibertiella humilis Briq., Bull. Herb. Boiss. 2:73 (1894). 



