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.
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.
Illustration Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Monardella odoratissima subsp. euodoratissima Epling
Monardella odoratissima subsp. odoratissima Benth.
Monardella odoratissima var. neglecta Cronq.