monardellas

genus Monardella

Member of mint family (family Lamiaceae)
dicots (class Magnoliopsida)
flowering plants (subphylum Angiospermae)

Except for old historical records and extremely rare examples that I don't expect to encounter, there are no other wild species of this genus in the bay area.

There is a great deal of intergrading in this genus.

Key features:

stem hair length (> 0.3 mm, < 0.3 mm, or none)
annual, subshrub, or shrub
1 main stem or multiple
bracts with stout veins or not
leaf margin wavy or not

coyote mint
Monardella villosa

subshrub to shrub with 1–many main stems, branched or not
1–6 flowers clusters per main stem
stem hairs > 0.3 mm, ± dense or ± 0
leaf margin serrate, crenate, or entire, not wavy
common

mountain monardella
Monardella odoratissima ssp. pallida

subshrub with 1–many main stems
1 flower cluster per main stem
stem sparsely hairy, hairs < 0.3 mm
leaf margin not wavy
corolla generally white (occasionally purple tinged)
Calflora has one observation in Big Basin, but iNaturalist has never confirmed it

glabrous stem

serpentine monardella
Monardella purpurea

subshrub with 1–many main stems
1+ flower cluster per main stem
stem ± glabrous, no hairs > 0.3 mm
leaf margin serrate (entire), slightly or not wavy
bay area flowers have > 1 flower cluster per main stem and are quite similar to coyote mint (Monardella villosa)

veiny monardella
Monardella douglasii

annual with 1 main stem, branched or not
bracts with stout veins, translucent between veins
leaf margin not wavy
12

wavy leaf margin

curlyleaf monardella
Monardella undulata

subshrub to shrub with few–many main stems, branched middle to distal, sparsely hairy to densely white-tomentose
leaves clustered at nodes, sparsely hairy to densely tomentose, leaf margin wavy

4 observed taxons / 2 unobserved taxons / 2 keys

Chris’s observations: 46 (37 are research grade)

Locations:

Sweeney Ridge National Recreation Area: 4
Henry Coe SP: 3
Stevens Creek CP: 3
Sunol Wilderness RP: 3
Almaden Quicksilver CP: 2
Ansel Adams Wilderness: 2
Big Basin SP: 2
Castle Rock SP: 2
Desolation Wilderness: 2
San Pedro Valley CP: 2
Skyline Ridge OSP: 2
Andrew Molera SP
Calero CP
Coal Creek OSP
Coyote Lake / Harvey Bear Ranch CP
Crockett Hills RP
Ed R. Levin CP
Edgewood Park & Natural Preserve
Garrapata SP
Hidden Villa, Los Altos Hills
La Honda Creek OSP
McNee Ranch / Montara Mountain SP
Mt. Madonna SP
Picchetti Ranch OSP
Purisima Creek Redwoods OSP
Rancho Cañada del Oro OSP
Russian Ridge OSP
Santa Teresa CP
Sibley Volcanic RP
Sierra Vista OSP

Months:

Jan.: 1
Feb.: 0
Mar.: 1
Apr.: 4
May: 8
Jun.: 16
Jul.: 10
Aug.: 3
Sep.: 2
Oct.: 1

For more details, use advanced search.

Not all sites include this taxon:

genus Monardella → iNaturalist – Calflora – Jepson eFlora
not yet listed → FNA

Bay Area species: iNaturalist – Calflora