MINT FAMILY 425 



Valley, Gilman 4283a. Teliachapi Mts. ; Bisses sta., Dudley 372. Western Moliave Desert : Victor- 

 ville, Parish 10,575. Cismontane S. Cal.: Mt. Piuos, J. Grinnell ; Griffins, n. Ventura Co., Elmer 

 3951 ; Soledad Canon, n. Los Angeles Co., Peirson 1046 ; Los Alisos Canon, Santa Monica Mts., 

 Epling 4- Dunn; Echo Park, Los Angeles, Braiinton 492 ; San Antonio Caiion, San Gabriel Mts., 

 C. F. Baker 3663; Green Valley, San Bernardino Mts., Braunton 1029; San Bernardino, Parish; 

 Tahquitz Creek, San Jacinto Mts. (Univ. Cal. Publ. Hot. 1:113). 



Also cited here are collections from the Great Valley delta, that is, plants representing the 

 form Stachys velutina Greene, later called Stachys ajugoides var. velutina Jepson, their leaf- 

 blades ovate-lanceolate or triangular-lanceolate, leathery, mostly 3 to 4% inches long, the tomen- 

 tura short and close, soon greenish; spikes 5 to 10 inches long, the whorls discrete: Hass Slough 

 near Main Prairie, Jepson 14,974; Millers Ferry near "Walnut Grove, Jepson 14,975; Suisun 

 Marshes, Jepson 14,972 ; Roberts Isl., San Joaquin Co., Sanford 229; Middle Eiver, San Joaquin 

 Co., Jepson 5097; Bouldin Isl. This "velutina" form also occurs in marshes at Alvarado, w. Ala- 

 meda Co. (Jepson 14,962). 



Refs. — Stachys albens Gray, Proe. Am. Acad. 7:387 (1868), type loc. Ft. Tejon, Kern Co., 

 Xantus 80; Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. Cal. 457 (1901), ed. 2, 357 (1911), Man. 877 (1925). S. velutina 

 Greene, Erythea 2:121 (1894), type loc. Suisun Marshes, Greene; not S. velutina Sehwein. (1825). 

 S.oji(prot(2esvar.D<?itttMia Jepson, Fl.W. Mid. Cal. 457 (1901), ed. 2, 357 (1911), Man. 878 (1925). 

 5. malacophylla Greene, Pitt. 3:343 (1898), new name for S. velutina Greene. S. albens var. 

 juUensis Jepson, Man. 877 (1925), type loc. McKiiiley Grove, Fresno Co., A. L. Grant 1198. 

 S. lanuginosa Greene, Pitt. 3:342 (1898), type loc. "mts. of Fresno Co.," Feckinpdh (undoubtedly 

 near Peckinpah Mill, above North Fork sta., now Madera Co.). 



3. S. ajugoides Bentli. Stems simple, mostly erect, % to 2 feet high ; herbage 

 densely villous or silky, whitish, sometimes glabrate ; leaf-blades oblong to ovate, 

 obtuse to acute (rarely subcordate) at base, 1 to 2^2 (or 4) inches long, petioled, 

 the upper sessile; spikes 1 to 8 (or 13) inches long, the flower-whorls usually dis- 

 crete, sometimes dense, often with 1 or 2 supplementary whorls below in the axils 

 of the upper foliage leaves ; calyx short-campanulate or turbinate, very silky-villous 

 (the teeth often concealed) ; corolla white or pinkish, 4 to 6 lines long, its lip purple- 

 dotted on center, its tube not exceeding the calyx or only slightly ; corolla-tube with 

 a hairy ring below middle, the ring very oblique, the tube slightly constricted below 

 the ring and saccate just above the lower side of the ring. 



Low lands, wet valleys and springy caiions, 5 to 500 or 2.500 feet, common : Sac- 

 ramento Valley ; lower San Joaquin Valley ; Coast Ranges from Del Norte Co. to 

 San Luis Obispo Co. ; south to Orange Co. Northern Lower California. May-Sept. 



Biol. note. — Usually an inhabitant of rich soil, Stachys ajugoides and its var. quercetorum 

 develop underground rootstocks freely and establish dense colonies. In the late fall or early win- 

 ter, the terminal portions of rootstocks develop into tubers. The slender rootstock connecting the 

 tuber with the parent system dies away in December. Sometimes isolated portions of the root- 

 stocks are merely thickened. During the high precipitation cycle from about 1870 to 1890, Stachys 

 ajugoides var. quercetorum rapidly extended its area over the floor of Vaca Valley in northwestern 

 Solano County. During the dry cycle from 1918 to 1936 it tended to disappear. The following are 

 citations of localities for Stachys ajugoides: 



Locs. — Sacramento Valley: Hamilton, Glenn Co., Heller 11,466; Collinsville, Solano Co., 

 Jepson 14,965. Lower San Joaquin Valley: Stockton, Sanford; Merced (10 mi. w.), Hoover 1114. 

 Coast Ranges : Monumental, Del Norte Co., Paries 4' Traey 11,487 ; Klamath River at Buck Creek, 

 Del Norte Co., Van Deventer 115 ; Grasshopper Peak, head of Canoe Creek, Humboldt Co., Jepson 

 16,481; Pudding Creek, Fort Bragg, Jepson 17,774; St. Helena, Jepson 14,967; Napa, Jepson 

 14,960; Berkeley, Davy; San Leandro, Jepson 14,963; Hunter Point, San Francisco, Jepson 

 12,707; Crystal Springs Lake, San Mateo Co., Elmer 4260; Redwood City, Jepson 12,938; Pt. 

 Pinos, Monterey, Heller 6789; San Luis Obispo, Summers 680. Coastal S. Cal.: Santa Cruz Isl., 

 Thacher; Ojai Valley, Thacher 43 ; San Antonio Caiion, San Gabriel Mts., Peirson 179 ; Sherman, 

 Los Angeles Co., Braunton 372; Tustin, Orange Co., Alice King; Newport Lagoon, Orange Co., 

 Booth 1146. 



Of the preceding citations, three only, which are on or near the margins of distribution of 

 Stachys ajugoides, have cordate or subcordate leaf-blades, namely Jepson 16,481 in Humboldt 

 County, Jepson 17,774 in Mendocino County, and Peirson 179 in the San Gabriel Mountains. There 

 are, however, numerous intergrade forms from the species, as described above, to the varietal phases 

 described below. It is impossible, on the basis of field experience and the abundant material now 

 available, to separate Stachys rigida, Stachys quercetorum or Stachys rivularis (as well as a number 

 of other segregates) from Stachys ajugoides as species. Nor can Stachys rigida, Stachys querce- 

 torum or Stachys rivularis be separated from each other on the same basis. These names represent 

 an aggregate species in which there is, in nature, marked but inconstant diversity as to certain 

 organs. This diversity is associated with continuous variability in pubescence (mainly of one 



