Kingdom: Plantae

Phylum: Magnoliophyta -- flowering plants

Class: Magnoliopsida -- dicotyledons

Order: Lamiales

Family: Lamiaceae (Labiatae)-- mint family

Variety: no infraspecific taxa are recognized

Common Name: yerba buena

Species Code: CLDO2, SADO5

Origin: Native to dry to mesic coniferous forests of the west coast of North America from Alaska to California and east to Idaho and Montana.

Rare: common over most of its range, but rare (ranked S2) in Montana (Montana Natural Heritage Program 2009)

Form: forb, perennial from woody rhizomes; mat forming, prostrate to decumbent with short ascending branches and often rooting along the square stems, hirsutulose overall.

Mature height: 2-6 inches

Duration: perennial

Habitat Type: forest

Wetland Indicator Status: not listed

Leaves: opposite, short petiolate or subsessile, ovate to subrotound, 1-3.5 cm long; margins with a few irregular blunt teeth.

Flowers: usually solitary, borne in the leaf axils on slender pedicels; calyx cylindric to ellipsoid, minutely hairy, 4-5 mm long, 12-15 ribbed, the 5 lobes short, acute, subequal; corolla tubular, white or sometimes purple tinged, 7-10 mm long, lips short, the lower lip spreading and 3-lobed; style exserted.

Flower color: white (sometimes with purple tinge)

Bloom: July

Bloom starts on: early July

Fruit: nutlet, 4 in a cluster, about 1 mm long, shiny, dark brown.

Characteristics:
Clinopodium douglasii (Benth.) Kuntze is a commonly accepted name.
Micromeria chamissonis in Piper & Beattie 1914.
Satureja douglasii in Davis 1953, St. John 1963, Hitchcock & Cronquist 1973.
Perennating organ is a woody rhizome.
x=6 (University of British Columbia 2003).
Flowers are perfect.
Fruit is a nutlet.
Tea is made from the dried leaves. Native peoples used the plant medicinally.

Sun requirement: shade tolerant

Soil moisture: mesic

Sowing time: fall

Transplant time: spring

Stratification: cold moist

Seed yield: no information available

Seed harvest: no information available

Seed first harvest: no information available

Seed cleaning: no information available

Planting duration: long

Seed size: very small

Seed harvest date: no information available

Seed comments: Can also be propagated from rhizome cuttings.

Herbaria: Specimen data and digital resources from The Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria

Keywords: native perennial upland forest forb

Propagation:
Reproduces both sexually by seed and vegetatively by rhizomes.
2 protocols in the Native Plant Network
seed, Golden Gate National Parks, CA
vegetative, Golden Gate National Parks, CA

References:
Davis, Ray J. 1952. Flora of Idaho. Wm. C. Brown, Dubuque, Iowa. 827 pp.

Hitchcock, C. Leo, and Arthur Cronquist. 1973. Flora of the Pacific Northwest. Univ. of Washington Press. Seattle, WA.

Montana Natural Heritage Program. 2009. Plant Species of Concern. Accessed online 12/27/09 at http://mtnhp.org/SpeciesOfConcern/?AorP=p

Piper, C.V., and R.K. Beattie. 1914. The Flora of Southeastern Washington and Adjacent Idaho. Press of the New Era Printing Company, Lancaster, PA. 296 pp.

St. John, Harold. 1963. Flora of Southeastern Washington and of Adjacent Idaho. 3rd edition. Outdoor Pictures. Escondido, CA.

University of British Columbia. 2003. British Columbia Flora. University of British Columbia Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research. Accessed 9/1/09 online at http://www.bcflora.org/

Links:
Plant Profile from the USDA PLANTS Database
Species information from the University of Washington Herbarium