Subfamily

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

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

VII. 2. B. Subtribe Menthinae (Dumort.) Endl. (1838).

Description

Annual herbs, aromatic; leaves narrow, linear to spathulate, entire or toothed; inflorescence of (1-)3-6-flowered sessile, rarely shortly pedunculate cymes in axils of bracts, congested into dense, terminal, spike- or head-like thyrse; bracts usually narrow (lower leaf-like); bracteoles elongate, linear, curved, often conspicuously ciliate; calyx 2-lipped, 5-lobed (3/2), lobes narrowly triangular, posterior usually shorter, tube 15-nerved, narrowly infundibuliform, throat glabrous; corolla lavender to purple, rarely white, or yellowish, 2-lipped, 4-lobed (1/3), lobes short, posterior lip flat, entire, tube elongate, narrowly infundibuliform to campanulate; stamens 4, posterior pair shorter and, in some species, staminodal, anterior pair ascending under posterior lip of corolla, included to slightly exserted, thecae ± parallel, distinct, often slightly unequal, connective apparent; style usually hairy above; stigma-lobes equal to unequal; disc symmetrical; nutlets oblong-obovate with rounded, usually hairy apex.  2n = 38.  Seven species, mostly in U.S.A., California, extending to Oregon and Mexico (Baja California).  Open, usually seasonally flooded, areas. Howell (1931) recognized two subgenera: subg. Pogogyne, with 4 fertile stamens and style densely hairy with ± equal stigma-lobes, and subg. Hedyomoides Gray, with 2 fertile stamens, and style sparsely hairy with unequal stigma-lobes.

Distribution

Native to:

Synonyms

Hedeomoides Briq. in H.G.A.Engler & K.A.E.Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenfam. 4(3a): 295 (1896).

Publication

Pogogyne Benth., Lab. Gen. Et Sp.: 414 (1834); Howell, Proc. Acad. Sci. 22 (3): 105-128 (1931), rev.; Jokerst, Aliso 13(2): 347-352 (1992).

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© Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew