DESERT LAVENDER
STEPPING FORWARD
Our dry-season landscape changes week to week
and it's fascinating to see how things come and go. There's always at least one species
seeming to "step forward" from the landscape, drawing attention to itself as
other species recede. Maybe for the whole year it'll quietly and retiringly blend with the
rest of its community but then one day you're walking along and suddenly you'll notice it
doing something so special that your first thought is, "Where did THIS come
from?"
 One species stepping forward now is
"Desert Lavender." Ever since I got here this plant has been just one
nondescript bush among many but right now it's very eye-catching. That's it at the right.
In that picture there's no doubt about which plant I'm referring to because the bush's
intense silveriness imparts a sense of the plant being afire, of being like surging froth
on a breaking ocean-wave. The silveriness is caused by its leaves and flowers being
abundantly invested with short, soft, white, matting hairs -- "canescent," a
botanist would say. You can see a close-up of Desert Lavender's pale-purple corollas
arising from very hairy, canescent calyxes below:
 If you know your wildflowers, a glance at the picture at the left will
convince you that Desert Lavender is a member of the Mint Family. However, you might
remember that Garden Lavender's flowers are arranged in an almost continuous spike --
which you can see here.
However, Desert Lavender's flowers are clumped in whorls, or verticils, widely separated
from one another along the hairy stem. Therefore, our plant isn't a "real
lavender."
The local folks' Spanish name for Desert Lavender is "Salvia." Well, that's
fitting, since the plant looks like a member of the genus Salvia, which is the genus for
Garden Sage, which also is in the Mint Family and has hoary leaves like Desert Lavender's.
Also, Desert Lavender's crushed leaves emit a very pungent, eucalyptus-like odor that
could be considered sage- like. However, flowers of the genus Salvia bear only two fertile
stamens while Desert Lavender's tiny blossoms clearly have four. Our "Salvia"
isn't a "real salvia."
So, what in the heck is "Desert Lavender?"
It's HYPTIS ALBIDA, a Mint-Family member of a genus not occurring in North America
except along the Deep South's Coastal Plain, and the US's Desert Southwest. Hyptis has
over 300 species is mostly tropical America, is mostly found in arid, sunny regions, and
its species are mostly unarmed herbs, subshrubs and shrubs bearing essential oils.
It's those oils that make the crushed leaves smell like eucalyptus or menthol, and
which assure that backcountry Mexicans regard the plants as medicinal. People here make a
tea of the leaves for sore throats. The scientific literature often mentions the plant in
connection with arthritis studies. |