Blooms: May-August
Habit: herb
Duration: perennial
Origin: Native
Conservation Status: Abundant; of no concern.

Distribution: Chiefly east of the Cascades in Washington; Washington to California, east to Idaho and Nevada.
Habitat: Open, dry, often rocky places, low deserts to mid-elevations in the mountains.

Species Description:

General: Aromatic, perennial herbs from a stout taproot and branching woody base, the numerous stems usually simple, somewhat woody below, 1-5 dm. tall, ascending to erect.
Leaves: Leaves opposite, square, short-petiolate, the blades lanceolate to narrowly elliptic, entire, firm, 1-3.5 cm. long and 3-12 mm. wide.
Flowers: Flowers in dense, terminal heads 1-4 cm. wide with an involucre beneath; the involucral bracts 7-15 mm. long, dry, veiny and purplish-tinged, with long hairs on the margins; calyx with prominent nerves, 5 short teeth; corolla pink-purple to white, 1-2 cm. long, two-lipped, the lips nearly equal, about half as long as the tube; corolla lobes slender, rounded, the upper 2 connected about their, the lower 3 distinct to the base; stamens 4, shortly exerted; style 2-parted; ovary 2-celled, superior.
Fruits: Nutlets 4

Subspecies & Varieties:

Monardella odoratissima Benth.

Treated in Flora of the PNW as:

PNW Herbaria Specimens: View list of Monardella odoratissima specimens in the Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria database.

WTU Herbarium Specimens: View list of Monardella odoratissima specimens in the WTU Herbarium database.

Washington Flora Checklist: Monardella odoratissima treatment.

E-Flora BC: Monardella odoratissima atlas page.

CalPhotos: Monardella odoratissima images.

USDA Plants Database: Monardella odoratissima.