Scrophularia californica
Linnaea 2: 585. 1827.
Illustrator:
Copyright:
Herbs, perennial, 8–12 dm; herbage light green to dark green, glandular-pubescent. Leaves: petiole length 1/3–1/2 blade; blade deltate or ovate to lanceolate, 8–17 cm, length 1.5–3 times width, base cordate to truncate, sometimes cuneate, margins serrate or dentate, sometimes incised. Pedicels slender to moderately stout, glabrate or stipitate-glandular. Flowers: corolla red, brown-red, or green, unicolored or ± bicolored, paler abaxially, 8–12 mm, throat narrow to open; staminode red, brown-red, or green, clavate to obovate, length greater than width, apex sometimes acute. 2n = ca. 90–96.
Phenology: Flowering Mar–Jul.
Habitat: Relatively damp places on slopes, chaparral, woodlands, roadsides.
Elevation: 0–2500 m.
Distribution
B.C., Ariz., Calif., Oreg., Wash., Mexico (Baja California).
Discussion
Subspecies (or var.) floribunda, characteristically from inland and drier areas, may be part of a complex of infraspecific diversity within Scrophularia californica needing investigation.
Selected References
None.