410 



LABIATAE 



10. S. mellifera Greene. California Black Sage. (Fig. 430.) Shrub 3 to 6 

 feet high, the herbaceous flowering branches very leafy at the base ; leaf -blades 

 narrowly oblong, crenulate, green and rugulose above, cinereous-tomentulose be- 

 neath, iy2 to 3 inches long, petioled; flower-whorls dense, 4 to 6 on the branchlets; 

 leafy bracts subtending the whorls ovate to oblong, the upper much reduced ; floral 

 bracts ovate to oblong, cuspidate; lower lip of calyx very short, the 2 teeth prickly ; 

 upper lip arched, crowned by 3 short sharp teeth ; corolla white or lilac-tinged and 

 rather small, 4 to 5 (21/2 to 6) lines long, the tube exserted ; upper lip notched; 

 lower lip widely and downwardly spreading, nearly twice as long as upper lip, its 



middle lobe transversely oblong or or- 

 bicular, emarginate and slightly den- 

 ticulate or entire, joined to the main 

 part of the lip by a narrow constriction ; 

 stamens and style little exserted ; lower 

 portion of connective in fertile stamens 

 manifest at the joint as a short tongue- 

 like rudiment ; upper pair of stamens 

 represented by short sterile filaments, 

 their tips approximate. 



Hillslopes, mesas and caiion walls, 

 often in margins of chaparral and in 

 clearings, 50 to 2500 feet : South Coast 

 Ranges from Contra Costa Co. to San 

 Luis Obispo Co.; ci.smontane Southern 

 California from Santa Barbara Co. to 

 San Diego Co. Northern Lower Cali- 

 fornia. Apr.-June. 



Field note. — Salvia mellifera is an ex- 

 tremely common bush on the lower hills and 

 mesas of cismontane Southern California 

 where it occurs in extensive colonies or is the 

 dominant in brush formations. Even towards 

 the northern limits of its range, as at Rock 

 Creek on the northern Monterey coast, the 

 hills may be given a black tone by the domi- 

 nance of this bush, thus forming a contrast 

 with the silver of a neighboring hill closely 

 covered by Lupinus albifrons. Well-defined 

 though small colonies also occur in the Black 

 Hills of Mt. Diablo, and at Somersville, the northernmost station, on the north side of Mt. Diablo. 

 In Southern California it is strictly cismontane and is not found on the desert drainage of intra- 

 raontane regions as is the case with Salvia apiana. It is a valued bee plant and is also called 

 Button Sage. Near La Jolla grows a form with small whorls. A shrub growing in the Santa Inez 

 Mountains near Santa Barbara has been recorded as wholly pistillate (Proc. Cal. Acad. ser. 2, 

 1 :226, — 1888). Individual shrubs, discovered in the field, have been regarded as hybrids between 

 this species and S. apiana (San Bernardino, Parish 4382). 



Locs. — South Coast Ranges : Mt. Diablo, Jepson 8330 ; Las Trampas Ridge, Contra Costa Co., 

 Jepson 14,949; Puerto Creek, e. slope Mt. Hamilton Range, Elmer 4393; Glenwood, Santa Cruz 

 Co., Michener 4' Biolrtti; Pacheco Pass, Jepson 17,462; Big Sur River, Jepson 25S4; Lime Kiln 

 Creek, Santa Lucia Mts., Jepson 1680; Bitterwater Valley (ne. arm), San Benito Co., Jepson 

 20,244; San Luis Mt., San Luis Obispo Co., Sutnmers. S. Cal.: El Jaro Creek, se. of Lompoc, 

 Jepson; Sycamore Cafion, Santa Inez Mts., Jepson 9150; Santa Cruz Isl. and Santa Rosa Isl. (Zoe 

 1:143); Santa Catalina Isl. ; Ojai Valley, Ventura Co., T/iac/ifr 44 ; Santa Susanna Pass, Ventura 

 Co., Jepson 8465; Castaic Valley, mts. n. of, Los Angeles Co., Jepson 8928a; Mt. Wilson, Peirson 

 181; San Gabriel Canon, San Gabriel Mts., C. E. Hutchinson; San Bernardino, Parish 4391; San 

 Bernardino Valley, betw. Crafton Hills and mouth of MUl Creek Carion, Jepson 5579; San Jacinto 

 Valley (hills e.), Jepson 1262 ; Santiago Creek, Santa Ana Mts., Alice King ; Palomar Mt., Jepson 

 1534; San Pasqual Valley (hills e.), Jepson; betw. Del Mar and La Jolla, Neivlon; San Diego, 

 Jepson 6657. 



Var. jonesii Munz. Leaf -blades mostly obovate or oblanceolate, usually % to 1 (or 1%) 

 inches long; anthers shorter than the upper lip. — San Miguel Mt., sw. San Diego Co. South into 

 Lower California. 



Fig. 430. Salvia mellifera Greene, a 

 branchlet, X Vo ; 6, fl., X 2; c, long, sect 

 corolla, X 2; d, stamen, X i; e, nutlet, X 3. 



fl. 

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