MINT FAMILY. Labiatac. 



arranged in tiers along the stem. Sometimes there are as 

 many as nine of these clusters and the effect of the whole is 

 dark and very rich, especially in shady places. This is 

 common in the hills, from San Francisco south. Humming- 

 birds are supposed to be its only visitors. 



A very conspicuous, shrubby plant. 

 White Ball Sage ,, -, ^ -m 1 o 



Ramdna nivea much handsomer than Black Sage, from 

 (Audibertia) three to six feet high, with many, downy, 



Lilac stout, leafy stems, woody below, forming 



Spring enormous clumps of pale foliage. The 



California 



leaves are covered with pale down and are 



a delicate shade of sage-green and feel like soft thick 

 velvet, and the mauve or lilac flowers, about three-quarters 

 of an inch long, are arranged in a scries of very round, 

 compact balls along the stiff stalks. This is a honey-plant 

 and smells strong of sage, and is common in the South, 

 giving a beautiful effect of mingled mauve and gray. 



Not so handsome as the last, but a very 



White Sage conspicuous plant, ou account of its size 



Ramona poly- r . . 



sitichya (Audi- anc * t " e P a ^ e tmt * lts f na g e though the 



bertia), (Salvia flowers are too dull in color to be striking. 



apiana) it is shrubby and has a number of stems, 



White, lilac which form a loose clump from three to 



Spring 



California s ^ x ^ eet n ^^ with rat -hcr leathery, resinous 



leaves, all but the upper ones with scal- 

 loped edges, and the whole plant is covered with fine 

 white down, so that the general effect is pale gray, blending 

 with the white or pale lilac flowers and purplish buds. The 

 flowers are about half an inch long and arc very queer in 

 form, for the only conspicuous part is the lower lip, which 

 is very broad with a ruffled edge and is turned straight up 

 and backward, so as to conceal almost all the rest of the 

 flower. The long jointed stamens, which arc borne on the 

 lower lip, stand out awkwardly like horns and from one 

 side of the flower's face a long white pistil sticks out, with 

 something the effect of a very long cigar hanging out of the 

 corner of its mouth ! All these eccentric arrangements are 

 apparently for the purpose of securing cross-pollination 

 from the bees, which frequent these flowers by the thou- 



440 



