General: Perennial trailing herb from a woody rhizome, mat-forming; stems reclining, to 1 m long, slightly woody, minutely sparse-hairy, 4-angled, sometimes rooting, often with short ascending branches; aromatic.
Leaves: Opposite, egg-shaped to almost round, 1-3.5 cm long, tips rounded, minutely sparse-hairy, margins irregularly blunt-toothed; short-stalked or nearly unstalked.
Flowers: Inflorescence of solitary (-3) flower in leaf axils; flower stalks slender, 5-15 mm long; corollas tubular, white or purple-tinged, 7-10 mm long, minutely stiff-hairy on outside, lips 2, short, the lower lip spreading, 3-lobed, the upper lip erect, notched; calyces tubular, 4-5 mm long, minutely hairy, 12- to 15-veined, with 5 short, pointed teeth.
Fruits: Nutlets, 4 clustered together, about 1 mm long, smooth, shiny brown.
If more than one illustration is
available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two
subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below.
Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range. (Updated August, 2013)
Mesic to dry open coniferous forests in the lowland, steppe and montane zones; infrequent in S BC east of the Coast-Cascade Mountains, common on S Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands, infrequent on the adjacent mainland; S to ID and CA.
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