104 Popular Studies of California Wild Flowers 



The Pitcher Sage. Wood Balm 

 Sphacele calycina (Mint Family) 



By Bertha M. Rice 



There is a quaint little flower on my summer hills which inter- 

 ests me greatly. When other blooms are failing, the wild honey- 

 bees, ever in search of nectar for their winter stores, its fragrant 

 blossoms bid them halt to feast a-plenty. It looks something like 

 the Monkey flower, but is purplish-white in color. 



Pitcher Sage it is called, because the flowers resemble in minia- 

 ture a white porcelain pitcher, and the 'name Sage is suggested by 

 its fragrance. The leaves are wrinkled and rough like the Garden 

 Sage. It certainly looks and smells like Sage, but the botanist says 

 we are wrong, and then adds that this plant is the only one of its 

 kind on the North American continent. The rest of this particular 

 genus live down in South America. It belongs to the Mint Family, 

 however, and is related to the Sage. We have many of the Mint 

 tribe in this State, but only this member of the genus to which the 

 Pitcher Sage belongs ; and it is found only in the foothill regions of 

 Central and Southern California. It varies slightly in appearance in 

 different parts of the State, but only experts can detect a difference. 

 It grows on the dry hillsides among the chaparral in the late spring 

 and summer months, and is one of our most desirable plants, for it 

 furnishes the honey bee with nectar. 



The wild flowers of the chaparral furnish most of the honey for 

 commerce, as well as supplying the wild bees with needful nectar. 

 The black and white sage plants, however, furnish most of the sage 

 honey, which is so well known. But it is good to know the Pitcher 

 Sage, for its spicy fragrance adds pleasure to the out-of-doors, and 

 it is not lacking in attractive qualities. 



I have found its purplish-white flowers quite late in summer 

 on dry hillsides ; it was a beautiful sight to see the wild bees feasting 

 busily, laying up their winter stores and strengthening themselves 

 for the lean months. These flowers at times seem to be about the 

 only honey-flowers in bloom amid the chaparral, and we know that 

 Mother Nature has taken this way of arranging for her children. 

 During the "rush season," the bees have so many flowers that they 

 might easily overlook the scattered Pitcher Sage plants. Later, when 

 they are in need of replenishing their supplies, particularly if they 

 have been robbed, as they once were, by grizzly bears, and now by 

 man, who takes their honey for commerce, these nectar-laden flowers 

 must seem to be a very "oasis in the desert." 



I have seen the humming-birds sipping the nectar of these 

 flowers also, and they seemed greatly to appreciate the sweetly laden 

 "pitchers" so advantageously arranged for them. Nature is a kind 

 and thoughtful mother, spreading delectable wayside feasts for her 

 wandering children, where man sees only belated blossoms and sun- 

 scorched hills. 



The scientific name of this blossom is quite descriptive. Spha- 

 cele is from the Greek, meaning "sage," as the plants have sage-like 



