Butterfly lavender
Lavandula pedunculata
Family · Lamiaceae · Harmless
The mountain lavender, with much longer purple ears and a tall stalk lifting the spike above the foliage. It is the most recorded lavender in the Peninsula and the source of the sierras' lavender honey.
Scrubland · Uplands · Montado · Pine woods
Also known asstalked lavender, tufted lavender
How to tell it
The purple bracts on top are long as ribbons, much bigger than French lavender's, and the spike sits on a bare stalk several centimetres long. Grey narrow leaves. Acid soils and altitude.
What it is confused with
French lavender
Lavandula stoechas
Measure the stalk below the spike and the ears above. In French lavender the spike sits almost on the leaves and the ears are short; here the stalk is long and the ears look like ribbons.
What it is for
A traditional infusion and a first-rate nectar plant in the inland sierras. It was also burned in fumigations to disinfect houses and pens.
With documented traditional uses. Not a therapeutic indication and not a dose.
Where it occurs
Each square is an area with recorded observations of this plant. The lighter background is the set of areas where any of the entries has been observed, and serves as a reference. Note what this is not: it is not where the plant lives, it is where people record it, so trails and towns always look fuller than the mountains. Data from GBIF.
Sources
Community
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