Monardella odoratissima Benth.
Mountain Wild Mint
Lamiaceae (Mint family)

Introduction to Vascular Plants

Photograph

© Jamie Fenneman     (Photo ID #14601)


Map

E-Flora BC Static Map

Distribution of Monardella odoratissima
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SUBTAXA PRESENT IN BC

Monardella odoratissima ssp. discolor

Species Information

General:
Perennial herb from a stout taproot and branching woody stem-base; stems numerous, loosely ascending or erect, simple or nearly so, 10-50 cm tall, 4-angled; hairy, sometimes with gland-tipped bristles.
Leaves:
Opposite, firm, lanceolate to egg-shaped, 1-3.5 cm long, 3-12 mm wide, entire, sparsely to densely hairy, green to ash-grey, often purple-tinged; short-stalked or almost unstalked.
Flowers:
Inflorescence a single, terminal, head-like cluster, 1-4 cm wide, closely surrounded by leaf-like bracts; bracts conspicuous, 7-15 mm long, lanceolate to egg-shaped, hairy, rather dry, veiny, more or less purplish-tinged, long-hairy on the margins, tips pointed to rounded; outer bracts bent back or spreading, inner bracts forming a cup-like involucre; corollas tubular, pink-purple to whitish, 1-2 cm long, the 2 lips almost equal, about half as long as the tube, the upper lip erect, 2-lobed, the lower lip bent back, 3-lobed; calyces hairy, the short teeth woolly-hairy.
Fruits:
Nutlets, 4 clustered together.

SourceThe Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Habitat and Range

Dry shrublands in the steppe and montane zones; rare in SE BC east of the Coast-Cascade Mountains, known only from Nelson; S to CA, NM and CO.

SourceThe Illustrated Flora of British Columbia