Wood-Balm. Pitcher-Sage
Sphacele Calycina, Benth. Mint Family
Woody at the base; two to five feet high; hairy or woolly. Leaves.—Two to four inches long. Flowers.—Dull white or purplish; an inch or more long; mostly solitary in the upper axils. Calyx.—Five-cleft. Corolla.—Having a hairy ring at base within. Stamens.—Four, in two pairs. Ovary.—Of four seedlike nutlets. Style filiform. Stigma two-lobed. Hab.—Dry hills. San Francisco Bay, southward.
The wood-balm is closely allied to the sages, which fact is betrayed by its opposite, wrinkly, sage-scented leaves; but its flowers have quite a different aspect. These are ample and cylindrical, with a five-lobed border, one of the lobes being prolonged into somewhat of a lip.
The generic name is from the Greek word meaning sage; and the specific name, signifying cuplike, refers to the shape of the blossoms.
The dwellers among our southern mountains, with that happy instinct possessed by those who live close to the heart of nature, have aptly named this “pitcher-sage.”
PITCHER-SAGE—Sphacele calycina.
After the flowers have passed away, the large inflated, light-green calyxes, densely crowded upon the stems, become quite conspicuous.