About Lepechinia cardiophylla Epling
Lepechinia cardiophylla is an aromatic shrub. It has branching stems covered in resin glands, and its hairy, glandular leaves are heart-shaped to oval-shaped, often with toothed edges. Its inflorescence is a raceme, which bears flowers on prominent pedicels. Each flower has a cup-like calyx of glandular sepals surrounding a tubular white to lavender corolla. The corolla curls back at the opening into small lips. Its fruit is a dark, hairless structure a few millimeters long, which develops inside the sepal calyx. This species was first described from chaparral in the Santa Ana Mountains of Orange County, California, where its populations are mostly concentrated. There is a separate disjunct population around Iron Mountain in Poway, San Diego County. This population fills an intermediate geographic gap between the larger Santa Ana populations and the populations of this species found in Baja California. In southern San Diego County, this species is replaced by the distinct species Lepechinia ganderi. In Baja California, Lepechinia cardiophylla grows abundantly on Cerro Bola, and its range extends south through the coastal mountains from Ensenada to Ejido Eréndira. Its distribution is possibly relictual. This species grows primarily in chaparral and cismontane woodland. In Orange County, it is associated with Exchequer soils. At Iron Mountain in San Diego County, the dominant soil type is Friant rocky fine sandy loam. Populations in Baja California, including those on Cerro Bola, grow on volcanic-derived soils.
