There are several kinds of Ramona, abundant in southern California;
shrubby plants, with wrinkled leaves and flowers like those of Salvia,
except for differences in the filaments; stamens two. They are very
important honey-plants, commonly called Sage, and by some botanists
considered to be a species of Salvia.
[Sidenote: =Desert Ramona=
_Ramòna incàna (Audibertia)_
=Blue
Spring
Southwest=]
A low desert shrub, from two to three feet high, varying very much in
color. On the plateau in the Grand Canyon it is delicate and unusual in
coloring, with pale gray, woody stems and branches and small, stiffish,
gray-green, toothless leaves, covered with white down. The small
flowers are bright blue, projecting from close whorls of variously
tinted bracts, and have long stamens, protruding from the corolla-tube,
with blue filaments and yellow anthers, and a blue style. The bracts
are sometimes lilac, sometimes pale blue, or cream-color, but always
form delicate pastelle shades, peculiar yet harmonizing in tone with
the vivid blue of the flowers and with the pale foliage. This is
strongly aromatic when crushed. In the Mohave Desert it is exceedingly
handsome, but the coloring is often less peculiar, as the foliage is
not quite so pale as in other places, such as the Grand Canyon, and
the flowers vary from blue to lilac or white. It blooms in spring and
when its clumps of purple are contrasted with some of the yellow desert
flowers, clustered about the feet of the dark Joshua Trees which grow
around Hesperia, the effect is very fine.
[Sidenote: =Humming-bird Sage=
_Ramòna grandiflòra (Audibertia)_
=Red
Spring
California=]
This is a handsome and very decorative plant, though rather coarse and
sticky, with a stout, bronze-colored stem, which is woody at base,
from two to three feet tall, and velvety, wrinkled leaves, from three
to eight inches long, with scalloped edges and white with down on the
under side. The flowers are an inch and a half long, with crimson
corollas of various fine shades, which project from the crowded whorls
of broad, bronze or purplish bracts, 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.
[Illustration: Ramona incana.]
[Illustration: Humming-bird Sage--Ramona grandiflora.]
[Sidenote: =White Ball Sage=
_Ramòna nívea (Audibertia)_
=Lilac
Spring
California=]
A very conspicuous, shrubby plant, much handsomer than Black Sage, from
three to six feet high, with many, downy, stout, leafy stems, woody
below, forming enormous clumps of pale foliage. The 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 series 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.
[Sidenote: =White Sage=
_Ramòna polystàchya (Audibertia), (Salvia apiana)_
=White, lilac
Spring
California=]
Not so handsome as the last, but a very conspicuous plant, on account
of its size and the pale tint of its foliage, though the flowers are
too dull in color to be striking. It is shrubby and has a number of
stems, which form a loose clump from three to six feet high, with
rather leathery, resinous leaves, all but the upper ones with scalloped
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
are 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 are 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 thousand, as this is a famous
bee-plant and the white honey made from it is peculiarly delicious. It
grows abundantly in valleys and on hillsides, from Santa Barbara to San
Diego, and has a very strong disagreeable smell.
[Illustration: White Ball Sage--Ramona nivea.