[Illustration]
[Sidenote: =Bladder-bush=
_Salazària Mexicàna_
=Blue and white
Spring
Southwest=]
This is the only kind, a very curious spiny desert shrub, about three
feet high, varying a great deal in general appearance in different
situations. The stems and foliage are gray-green and imperceptibly
downy and the flowers are over three-quarters of an inch long, with
a corolla which is hairy outside and has a lilac and white upper lip
and a dark blue lower one. The calyxes become inflated and form very
curious papery globes, over half an inch in diameter, very pale in
color, tinged with yellow, pink, or lilac, and extremely conspicuous.
In the desert around Needles, in California, the general form of the
shrub is very loose and straggling, with slender twisting branches and
small, pale gray-green leaves, both flowers and leaves very scanty and
far apart, so that the bunches of bladder-like pods are exceedingly
conspicuous. In the Mohave Desert it becomes a remarkably dense shrub,
a mass of dry-looking, criss-cross, tangled branches, spiky twigs,
and dull green leaves, speckled all over with the dark blue and white
flowers and the twigs crowded with pods. Sometimes the flowers are
magenta instead of blue, but are all alike on one bush. The stems are
not square, as in most Mints. The drawing is of a plant at Needles.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: Bladder-bush--Salazaria Mexicana.]
There are only a few kinds of Sphacele.
[Sidenote: =Pitcher Sage, Wood-balm=
_Sphácele calycìna_
=White
Spring, summer
California=]
This is a rather handsome shrubby plant, from two to five feet high,
woody at base, with many stout, leafy, woolly or hairy stems, and
rather coarse leaves, hairy, more or less wrinkled and toothed,
and rather dark green. The flowers are over an inch long, in pairs
along the upper stem, something the shape of a Monkey-flower, with a
five-toothed calyx and a corolla with four, short, spreading lobes and
the fifth lobe much longer and erect, the tube broad and dull-white,
with a hairy ring at the base inside, the lobes tinged with pink or
purple; the stamens four, one pair shorter. After the flowers have
faded the large, pale green, inflated calyxes, veined with dull purple,
become conspicuous. If the flowers were brighter in color this would
be very handsome. It is strongly but rather pleasantly aromatic and
grows on dry hills in southern California. The name is from the Greek,
meaning "sage," as these plants have sage-like foliage and smell, but
the flowers are quite different.
There are several kinds of Salvia, widely distributed, herbs or shrubs;
flowers usually in whorls, with bracts; upper lip of the corolla erect,
seldom two-lobed, lower lip spreading and three-lobed; resembling
Ramona, except that the two stamens have filaments which are apparently
two-forked, one fork bearing an anther cell and the other only the mere
rudiment of an anther; the smooth nutlets are mucilaginous when wet.
The Latin name means "to save," as some kinds are medicinal.
[Sidenote: =Thistle Sage, Persian Prince=
_Sálvia carduàcea_
=Lilac
Spring, summer
California=]
A fantastically beautiful and decorative plant, very individual in
character. The stout purplish stem, a foot or two tall and covered with
white wool, springs from a rosette of thistle-like leaves of palest
green, so thickly covered with cushions of white wool that they appear
to be inflated, their teeth tipped with brown spines. The stem bears
a series of flower-clusters, resembling large, round, pale balls of
wool, pierced here and there by long prickles and encircled by lovely
flowers, so etherial that they appear almost to hover in the air. They
are each about an inch long, the corolla clear bright lilac with
an erect upper lip with two lobes, their fringed tips crossed one over
the other, and the lower lip with small side lobes and a very large,
fan-shaped, middle lobe, which is delicately fringed with white. The
pistil is purple and the anthers are bright orange, which gives a
piquant touch to the whole color scheme of pale green and lilac. There
are several tiers of these soft yet prickly balls, which suggest the
pale green turbans of an eastern potentate, wreathed with flowers. The
buds poke their little noses through the wool, in a most fascinating
way, like babies coming out of a woolly blanket, and fresh buds keep on
coming through and expanding as the faded blossoms fall, so that these
flowers last longer in water than we would expect from their fragile
appearance. The plants when they are crushed give out a rather heavy
smell of sage, with a dash of lemon verbena. They grow on the dry open
plains of the South.
[Illustration: Thistle Sage--Salvia carduacea.]
[Illustration: Pitcher Sage--Sphacele calycina.]
[Illustration]
[Sidenote: =Chia=
_Sálvia columbàriae_
=Blue
Spring
Southwest=]
This is an odd-looking plant, but is often quite handsome. The stout
purplish stem, from six inches to over two feet tall, springs from a
cluster of rough, very dull green leaves, sometimes so wrinkled as to
look like the back of a toad, and bears a series of round, button-like
heads, consisting of numerous, purple, bristly bracts, ornamented with
small, very bright blue flowers. Though the flowers are small, the
contrast between their vivid coloring and the purple or wine-colored
bracts is very effective. The seeds have been for centuries an
important food product among the aborigines and this plant in ancient
Mexico was cultivated as regularly as corn, the meal being extremely
nourishing and resembling linseed meal. The Mission Fathers used it for
poultices and it is still in demand among the Spanish-Californians.
This grows on dry hillsides and smells of sage.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: Chia--Salvia columbariae.]
There are several kinds of Trichostema, all North American; herbs,
sometimes shrubby; leaves toothless, or with wavy margins; flowers in
clusters; calyx usually with five unequal lobes; corolla with a long
slender tube and five oblong lobes nearly alike, forming in bud a
roundish ball, enclosing the coiled stamens; stamens four, the upper
pair longer, with very long, blue or purple filaments, conspicuously
protruding from the corolla, suggesting both the Greek name, meaning
"hair-like stamens," and the common name, Blue-curls.
[Sidenote: =Romero, Woolly Blue-curls=
_Trichostèma lanàtum_
=Blue
Summer, autumn
California=]
This is shrubby and usually has many stems, from two to four feet high,
with stiffish leaves, dark green on the upper side, paler and woolly
on the under, the margins rolled back, and beautiful flower-clusters,
which are sometimes a foot long. The bright blue corolla is nearly
an inch long, with a border shaped like a violet, the smaller buds
are pink, and the purple stamens and style are two inches long and
very conspicuous. The calyxes, stems, and buds are all covered with
fuzzy, pink wool, forming a most unusual and beautiful color scheme,
giving a changeable almost iridescent effect of mauve and pink, in
remarkable contrast to the brilliant blue of the flowers. This grows
on rocky hills in southern California, is pleasantly aromatic and
used medicinally by Spanish-Californians. _T. lanceolàtum_ is called
Camphor Weed, because of its strong odor, like camphor but exceedingly
unpleasant. It grows on dry plains and low hills in the Northwest and
is an important bee-plant, blooming in summer and autumn, and is also
called Vinegar Weed.
There are a few kinds of Agastache, all North American, perennial
herbs, mostly tall and coarse; leaves toothed, with leaf-stalks;
flowers small, in a terminal spike, with bracts; calyx bell-shaped,
with five teeth and slightly two-lipped; corolla with a two-lobed,
erect, upper lip, the lower lip spreading and three-lobed, the middle
lobe broader and scalloped; stamens four, all with anthers, the upper
pair longer; nutlets smooth. The Greek name means "many spikes."
[Illustration: Romero--Trichostema lanatum.]
[Sidenote: =Giant Hyssop=
_Agástache urticifòlia (Lophanthus)_
=Pink
Summer
West, etc.=]
A handsome plant, from three to five feet high, with stout, branching
stems, usually smooth, sometimes hairy, and smoothish, dark green
leaves. The small flowers have a green calyx, with mauve teeth, a
white or pale violet corolla, and long, protruding stamens, with lilac
anthers. They are crowded in spikes, from two to six inches long, and
the whole effect is rather bright purplish-pink, feathery and pretty.
This has a strong aromatic smell and grows along the edges of meadows
and is abundant in Yosemite at moderate altitudes, but in other places
reaches an altitude of over eight thousand feet and is found as far
east as Colorado. _A. pallidiflòra_, with greenish-white calyxes and
white corollas, too dull in color to be pretty, grows in the Grand
Canyon and in New Mexico and Colorado.
There are several kinds of Monarda, all North American; aromatic herbs;
leaves toothed; flowers crowded in heads, usually with bracts, which
are sometimes colored; calyx tubular, with five teeth, often hairy
inside; corolla more or less hairy outside, two-lipped, upper lip erect
or arched, sometimes notched, lower lip spreading and three-lobed, the
middle lobe larger; stamens two, with swinging anthers, sometimes also
two rudimentary stamens; nutlets smooth. These plants are called Balm,
Bergamot, and Horse-mint.
[Sidenote: =Horse-mint=
_Monàrda pectinàta (M. citriodora in part)_
=Pink
Summer
Ariz., Utah, etc.=]
This is handsome when growing in masses, though the flowers are not
sufficiently positive in color. It grows from one to three feet high,
with a stout, roughish stem, sometimes branching, and leaves which are
thin and soft in texture, with a dull surface, but not rough, and more
or less toothed. The flowers are nearly an inch long and project from
crowded heads of conspicuous purplish bracts, tipped with bristles. The
calyx is very hairy inside, the lobes tipped with long bristles, and
the corolla is pale pink, lilac, or almost white, not spotted, with a
very wide open, yawning mouth, the stamens and the curling tips of the
pistil protruding from under the upper lip. This grows on dry plains,
especially in sandy soil, as far east as Colorado and Texas, reaching
an altitude of six thousand feet, and is strongly aromatic when crushed.
[Illustration: Giant Hyssop--Agastache urticifolia.