POLEO PENNYROYAL (Monardella lanceolata, Gray). Flow- 

 ers rose or blue-purple, individually small, but showy in the 

 mass in crowded terminal heads an inch or so across, subtended 

 by purplish bracts. Leaves, few, narrow and tapering at 

 both ends, 1 to 2 inches long. A branching, aromatic annual 

 from 6 inches to 2 feet high, blooming from June to September 

 throughout California, except in the higher mountains. 



The pungent pennyroyal-like fragrance of this plant is a 

 familiar one to the tramper upon the dry roads and hillsides of 

 summer. Spanish-Californians call it Poleo, which is Span- 

 ish for pennyroyal, and use its leaves both as a household rem- 

 edy and as a substitute for tea. Americans sometimes call it 

 Mustang Mint. 



There are several species of Monardella on the Coast, all 

 pleasantly fragrant. One perennial species, Monardella odor- 

 atissima, Benth, with pale foliage and dull-white flowers, is 

 abundant on the dry slopes of the higher mountains of Cali- 

 fornia (Yosemite region) northward to Washington, and east- 

 ward to Nevada and Utah. It is commonly called Mountain 

 Pennyroyal, and tea of its leaves has some vogue among 

 mountaineers as a blood purifier and colic cure. 



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