Subfamily

VII. Subfam. Nepetoideae (Dumort.) Luerss. (1882).

VII. 2. Tribe Mentheae Dumort. (1827).

VII. 2. A. Subtribe Salviinae (Dumort.) Endl. (1838).

Description

Perennial herbs to shrubs, rarely gynodioecious, or dioecious ( sect. Parviflorae Epling - see Hart 1985); often aromatic; leaves entire to toothed, often rugose; inflorescence terminal and often axillary, a paniculate thyrse of lax, (1-) 3- to many-flowered cymes, or spiciform of ± congested, usually sessile, 6- to many-flowered verticillasters; bracts usually small; bracteoles inconspicuous; flowers large to very small; calyx ± actinomorphic to weakly 2-lipped, 5-lobed (3/2), lobes deltoid to subulate or aristate, tube campanulate, 10-15-nerved, often accrescent and inflated, lobes spreading to connivent, throat exannulate; corolla weakly 2-lipped, 5-lobed (2/3), white, yellowish, purplish to red or blue, lobes often subequal, or anterior lobe larger, tube cylindrical to campanulate, sometimes shorter than calyx, usually annulate within; stamens 4, didynamous, included to long-exserted, anterior pair usually longer, ascending, thecae 2, divergent to divaricate, elongate to oblong, sometimes confluent; stigma-lobes short, subequal; disc 4-lobed, nutlets ovoid, smooth, brown or black, abscission scar minute, not mucilaginous. 2n = 32, 66. About 40 species, often montane, Andes from Argentina and Chile northwards to Mexico and U.S.A. (California), with outlying species in Brazil and Hawaii, the Chilean L. chamaedryoides (Balbis) Epling naturalized in Réunion I. Some species used medicinally or as ornamentals. Epling (1948) recognized eight sections, based mainly on inflorescence structure and floral morphology. Hart (1983) recognized two: sect. Lepechinia and sect. Parviflorae, considering the former to be polyphyletic.

Distribution

Native to:

63 North-Central Pacific
76 Southwestern U.S.A.
79 Mexico
80 Central America
81 Caribbean
82 Northern South America
83 Western South America
84 Brazil
85 Southern South America

Synonyms

Alguelaguen Feuill. ex Adans., Fam. Pl. 2: 505 (1763).

Phytoxis Molina, Sag. Stor. Nat. Chili, ed. 2: 145 (1810).

Ulricia Jacq. ex Steud., Nomencl. Bot. 1: 862 (1821).

Sphacele Benth., Edwards's Bot. Reg. 15: t. 1289 (1829).

Astemon Regel, Index Seminum (LE) 1860: 38 (1860).

Alguelagum Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 511 (1891).

Mahya Cordem., Fl. Réunion: 490 (1895).

Publication

Lepechinia Willd, Hort. Berol 1: 21, t.21 (1803); Epling, Brittonia 6: 352-364 (1948); Hart, Ph.D. Diss., Harvard, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A. (1983), rev.

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Species found in RBG Kew living collections