Drummond's false-pennyroyal

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Drummond's false-pennyroyal

Drummond's false-pennyroyal flower

Drummond's false-pennyroyal

Drummond's false-pennyroyal

Drummond's false-pennyroyal flower

Drummond's false-pennyroyal

Drummond's false-pennyroyal

Drummond's false-pennyroyal leaves

Drummond's false-pennyroyal

Morphology

Stem

Square in cross section, decumbent to ascending or erect, simple or branched from base, finely hirsute.

Leaves

Cauline, opposite, simple; stipules absent; petiole short; blade linear to elliptic-oblong, 3/10 to 7/10 inch long, 1/25 to 1/6 inch wide, base attenuate, margins entire, tip obtuse, lower surface finely hirsute, upper surface glabrous or glabrate.

Inflorescence

Axillary cymes, sometimes flowers solitary; bracts leaf-like.

Flower

Calyx bilaterally symmetric, 1/5 to 3/10 inch, 2-lipped, tube 13-nerved, throat with distinct ring of simple hairs, lobes 5, subulate, finely hirsute, tip acuminate to bristle-like, not spinulose and hooked; corolla blue to lavender, 3/10 to 3/5 inch, lower lip 3-lobed, middle lobe larger than lateral lobes; upper lip purple-spotted or not, entire or 2-lobed, flat or hood-like; stamens 2, included, ascending under upper lip, filaments straight; style 1, basal; stigmas 2.

Fruit

Schizocarps comprising (1-)4 mericarps; mericarps brown, oblong-ovoid, 1/20 to 1/15 inch, glabrous; seeds 1 per mericarp.

Ecology

Habitat

Rocky, mixed-grass and shortgrass prairies, rock outcrops, and gravelly slopes

Distribution

West half of Kansas

Practical Information

Uses

Native Americans treated headaches by crushing the aromatic stems of this plant and inhaling the mint-like odor.

Additional Notes