Monardella odoratissima subsp. pallida

Family: Lamiaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Monardella odoratissima subsp. pallida is a California native shrub found in the Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, California Range Highlands, and Sierra Nevada Highlands in montane forest and rocky slopes at elevations of 1,000 to 3,100 meters. Flowering from June to September, this plant produces white flowers occasionally tinged with lavender or purple in compact clusters 13 to 25 millimeters wide. Growing with green or ash-gray stems 15 to 45 centimeters tall that are hairy, it develops dense, aromatic foliage. Its leaves range from 25 to 43 millimeters long, varying from green-glabrous to ash-gray-hairy, with distinctive lance-linear bracts that are leaf-like at the tip and scarious at the base. The flower clusters are subtended by reflexed leaves, creating a distinctive architectural appearance in its montane habitat.

Habitat: Montane forest, rocky slopes

Bloom period: Jun-Sep

Elevation: 1000-3100 m

Bioregions: KR, NCoRH, CaRH, SNH

California counties: Fresno, Plumas, Butte, Nevada, El Dorado, Siskiyou, Tulare, Trinity, Tehama, Tuolumne, Shasta, Mono, Sierra, Mariposa, Placer, Calaveras, Alpine, Amador, Mendocino, Lassen, Sutter, Inyo, Kern, Glenn, Humboldt, Madera, Modoc, San Diego, Colusa, Lake, Merced, Sonoma

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.