MINT FAMILY 423 



16. STACHYSL. Hedge Nettle 



Ours hispid or soft-pubescent perennial herbs. Flowers few to several, borne 

 in whorls in the axils of the upper reduced leaves or bracts, thus forming a dense or 

 interrupted spike. Calyx tubular-campanulate or turbinate, 5 to 10-nerved or 

 -ribbed, with 5 nearly erect or spreading pointed equal teeth, sometimes the upper 

 teeth larger and more or less united, all usually cuspidate. Corolla with cylindrical 

 tube, little or not at all dilated at the throat ; upper lip erect or slightly turned 

 backward, over-arched or concave, entire or notched ; lower lip longer, spreading, 

 3-lobed, the middle lobe larger, the lateral lobes often deflexed. Stamens 4, in pairs, 

 ascending under the upper lip of the corolla, or one or both pairs sometimes deflexed 

 to the sides of the throat and contorted after anthesis. Nutlets obtuse at apex.— 

 Stachys arvensis, an adventive alien, is annual. — Species 200, all continents except 

 Australia. (Greek stachus, an ear of corn, hence a spike ; given to these plants on 

 account of their spicate inflorescence.) 



Corolla large, showy, crimson, the tube 8 to 15 lines long; stems with stout rigid recurving hairs on 



the angles; cent, and n. Cal. coast 1. S. chamissonis. 



CoroUa smaller, white to purplish or red, the tube 3 to 7 lines long; stems variously hairy but hairs 

 not stout and rigid (except sometimes in S. bullata). 

 Herbage usually closely white-woolly, the stems loose-cobwebby; spikes 3 to 12 inches long, 

 the whorls dense to remote ; corolla dull whitish, the ring of hairs in tube very dense, 



very oblique; widely distributed 2. S. albens. 



Herbage hairy, often densely so, but not white-woolly nor stems cobwebby. 

 Flower-whorls more or less distinct, forming an interrupted spike. 



Stamens exserted from corolla-tube 1 to 2 lines ; nutlets dark brown, at least 1 line 

 long. 

 Corolla-tube with oblique ring of hairs about % of length above the base, usually 

 somewhat saccate on lower side. 

 Corolla white or pink, the tube distinctly saccate, 1 to 1% times as long 



as the calyx; widely distributed 3. 5. ajugoides. 



Corolla bright purple, the tube slightly or not at all saccate, about twice 

 as long as the calyx; Redwood belt from Mendocino Co. to Del 



Norte Co 4. S. emersonii. 



Corolla-tube with horizontal ring of hairs within near base, never saccate, the 

 tube twice as long as the calyx; coastal hills from San Francisco to 



Orange Co 5. S. bullata. 



Stamens scarcely exserted from corolla-tube ; corolla-tube with a horizontal ring of 

 hairs; nutlets light brown, % line long; inner North Coast Ranges and 



northern Sierra Nevada 6. S. striata. 



Flower-whorls congested to form a dense cylindrical spike ; corolla whitish ; cent. Cal. 

 coast 7. S. pycnantha. 



1. S. chamissonis Benth. Swamp Stachys. (Fig. 438.) Stems erect, simple, 

 ending above in 1 to 3 spikes, 3 to 7 (or 10) feet high, the angles of the stems 

 retrorsely scabrous, the hairs pustulate, often viscid; leaf-blades ovate, crenate, 3 to 

 6 inches long, soft-pubescent, all petioled; spikes 4 to 12 inches long, the flower- 

 whorls mostly discrete ; calyx clavate-tubular, 5 to 7 lines long ; corolla red, its tube 

 8 to 15 lines long, much exserted, with a hairy ring within near the base. 



Swamps or wet places of stream borders along the coast, associated with Alnus 

 rubra, 10 to 500 feet : San Luis Obispo Co. to Humboldt Co. North to Oregon. 

 June-July. 



Field note. — Stachys chamissonis tends to form colonies in low wet spots or in marshes. It is 

 remarkable for its tall slender stems, often 7 to 10 feet high, which are quite unbranched save in 

 the terminal inflorescence. Sometimes, indeed, even the inflorescence is unbranched and the whole 

 epigaeous plant is represented by a single axis. The odor of the herbage is very strong and very 

 disagreeable, clinging for hours to the clothing of the botanical traveler after some minutes' asso- 

 ciation in a thicket of it. It is only with some difficulty that one establishes the basic mint odor. 

 Flowering is usually very abundant. The hairy ring in the corolla-tube is partially interrupted 

 on the upper side opposite the style. The upper pair of filaments are flattened and hairy on both 

 edges; tlie lower pair of filaments are also flattened but hairy only on the upper edge. 



Locs. — Oak Park, San Luis Obispo Co., Hall 7693; Lucia, Monterey coast, Jepson 1672; 

 Pacific Grove, Jepson 9785; Pilarcitos, San Mateo Co., Elmer 4760; Presidio, San Francisco (Bo- 



