''Lepechinia cardiophylla'' is an uncommon species of flowering plant in the

mint family The Lamiaceae ( ) or Labiatae are a family of flowering plants commonly known as the mint, deadnettle or sage family. Many of the plants are aromatic in all parts and include widely used culinary herbs like basil, mint, rosemary, sage, savory, ...

known by the common names Santa Ana pitcher sage and heart-leaved pitcher sage. A broad-leaved fragrant shrub, it has distinct pitcher-shaped flowers. It is native to the Peninsular Ranges and found in the

Santa Ana Mountains The Santa Ana Mountains are a short peninsular mountain range along the coast of Southern California in the United States. They extend for approximately southeast of the Los Angeles Basin largely along the border between Orange and Riverside c ...

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban a ...

, a few locations in

San Diego County San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634, making it California's second-most populous county and the f ...

, and some of the coastal mountains of northern

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

. Few populations of the plant are known and many of them are located in areas that are threatened by development and other human activity.

Description

''Lepechinia cardiophylla'' is an aromatic shrub with branching stems covered in resin glands. The hairy, glandular leaves are heart-shaped to oval-shaped and often toothed along the edges. The raceme

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...

bears flowers on prominent

pedicels In botany, a pedicel is a stem that attaches a single flower to the inflorescence. Such inflorescences are described as ''pedicellate''. Description Pedicel refers to a structure connecting a single flower to its inflorescence. In the absenc ...

. Each flower is a cuplike calyx of glandular

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coine ...

s around a tubular white to lavender corolla. The corolla is curled back at the mouth into small lips. The fruit is a dark colored, hairless body a few millimeters long which develops within the calyx of sepals.

Taxonomy

This species was first described by

Carl Epling Carl Clawson Epling (15 April 1894 – 17 November 1968) was an American botanist and taxonomist. He is best known for being the major authority on the Lamiaceae (mint family) of the Americas from the 1920s to the 1960s. In his later years he als ...

in 1948. It is characterized by its strongly

cordate Cordate is an adjective meaning ' heart-shaped' and is most typically used for: * Cordate (leaf shape) The following is a list of terms which are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (a ...

leaves that are broadly ovate in outline. It can be distinguished by the shape and size of the leaves from ''Lepechinia calycina'' and from ''Lepechinia fragrans'' by the texture and shape of the calyx.

Distribution and habitat

''Lepechinia cardiophylla'' was first described from the chaparral of the

Orange County, California Orange County is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,186,989, making it the third-most-populous county in California, the sixth-most-populous in the United States, a ...

, where it is mostly concentrated. A disjunct population is located in

, around Iron Mountain in

Poway Poway () is a city in San Diego County, California, United States. The unincorporated community became a city on December 1, 1980. Poway's rural roots influenced its motto "The City in the Country". The city has a population of 49,701 as of 2 ...

, occupying the intermediate gap between the larger populations in the Santa Anas and the ones in

. In southern San Diego County, the species is instead replaced by the distinct ''Lepechinia ganderi''. In Baja California, this species is found abundantly on the

Cerro Bola The Cerro Bola is a coastal metavolcanic mountain formation in northwestern Baja California. The Cerro Bola, along with the nearby mountain Cerro Gordo form the highest elevation areas of Tijuana Municipality. Because of its prominence, the trans ...

, and is distributed south to the coastal mountains of Ensenada to Ejido Eréndira. Its distribution is possibly relictual. This species is primarily found growing in chaparral and cismontane woodland. In Orange County it is associated with Exchequer soils, while in San Diego County, Iron Mountain has primarily Friant rocky fine sandy loams. The populations in Baja California, such as on the Cerro Bola, are found on volcanic derived soils.

References

External links

Jepson Manual Treatment - ''Lepechinia cardiophylla''USDA Plants Profile: Lepechinia cardiophylla''Lepechinia cardiophylla'' - Photo gallery

cardio Cardio (from Greek καρδίᾱ ''kardia'', 'heart') may refer to: * Of the Heart * Cardiology ** Cardiovascular system * Aerobic exercise, also known as cardio * ''Cardio'' (album), a 2010 album by Miguel Bosé See also * * * Physical exerc ...

Flora of California Flora of Baja California Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Natural history of the Peninsular Ranges Natural history of Orange County, California Santa Ana Mountains {{Lamiaceae-stub