Glandularia wrightii

Nesom 2010, McDougall 1973

Duration: Perennial Nativity: Native Lifeform: Forb/Herb General: Perennial herbs, 15-60 cm tall; stems decumbent-ascending to erect, stiffly hirsute with hairs spreading at right angles, without glands or very sparsely stipitate-glandular. Leaves: Opposite, on petioles 4-15 mm long; blades ovate to lanceolate-ovate, membraneous, 2-4 cm long, one or two times pinnately lobed, the ultimate segments mostly lanceolate to oblanceolate, hirsute-strigose, without glands. Flowers: Pink-purple and showy, in short dense terminal spikes which elongate to 2-5(-11) cm in fruit; each flower subtended by a bractlet shorter than to nearly equaling the calyx length; calyx 6-8 mm long, sparsely to moderately hirsute-pilose and stipitate-glandular; corollas rose to purple or blue-lavender, salverform, the tubes 8-12 mm long, the limbs 7-12 mm wide. Fruits: Nutlets black, cylindric, 3 mm long, slightly broadened at the base, somewhat reticulated. Ecology: Found in Chihuahuan and Sonoran desert scrub, juniper, pinyon juniper, pine-oak, limestone slopes, grasslands, roadsides, gravelly banks and washes, from 3,400-8,000 ft (1300-2400 m); flowers April-September. Distribution: c to se AZ, NM, w TX; south to c MEX. Notes: Glandularia species are densely hairy herbs that have spike inflorescences with closely packed blue, purple, or pink flowers, the petals fused into a funnel shape and topped with 5 lobes; each flower in the spike has a bract beneath it, which in some species is quite showy. G. wrightii is a part of the Glandularia bipinnatifida complex and is included within that taxon in some treatments. It intergrades with other members of the group where their ranges overlap and the morphology can be variable and mix with other members. G. wrightii can usually be distinguished by its perennial growth form, decumbent-ascending habit, short length of elongated inflorescence (above), calyces with dense, small stipitate glands, corolla color, tube length and limb diameter (above). Ethnobotany: Acts as a sedative, diphoretic, diuretic, bitter tonic, and antispasmodic. Etymology: Glandularia is based in Latin and means full of glands, while wrightii is named for Charles Wright, botanist and member of the United States-Mexican Boundary Survey. On this and many other expeditions into the west, Wright collected many species new to science. Synonyms: Glandularia bipinnatifida var. ciliata, Verbena wrightii, Verbena ambrosiifolia Editor: FSCoburn 2014, AHazelton 2015