Stems.—A foot or so high. Leaves.—The lower oblong; the upper ovate-lanceolate. Calyx.—Unequally five-cleft. Corolla.—Nine lines long. Upper lip lilac or white; lower of three lobes; the middle folded into a keeled sac containing the stamens and style; the two lateral rose-purple. Stamens.—Four; in two pairs on the corolla. Upper filaments bearded. Ovary.—Two-celled. Style filiform. Hab.—Throughout Western California.

Where spreading trees cast a dense shade and the moisture still lingers, companies of lovely Collinsias stand amid the fresh green grasses, their delicate, many-storied blossoms swaying upon the idle breezes. In the north these are in the rear guard of spring flowers, and make their appearance just before the Godetias bid farewell to spring; but in the south they come earlier. They vary much in color, from the typical rose-purple and white or lilac to all white.

We have a number of species; but C. bicolor is the most showy and widespread.

BLACK SAGE. BALL-SAGE.

Audibertia stachyoides, Benth. Mint Family.

Shrubby; three to eight feet high; with herbaceous flowering branches. Leaves.—Opposite; oblong-lanceolate; tapering into a petiole; crenate. Flowers.—In interrupted spikes, having from three to nine dense, rather remote, headlike, bracteate whorls. Calyx.—Bilabiate; each lip with two or three awned teeth. Corolla.—Lavender; six lines long; bilabiate. Upper lip erect; emarginate; lower deflexed; three-lobed. Stamens.—Two sterile; two perfect on jointed filaments. Ovary.—Of four seedlike nutlets. Style slender. Stigma two-cleft. Hab.—From San Francisco Bay to San Diego.

We have but two or three true sages, or Salvias, in California; but the plants of the closely allied genus Audibertia are with perfect propriety called sages, as they manifest all the characteristics of that genus, differing only in the structure of the stamens. There are a number of species of Audibertia, all of them important honey-plants. They are particularly abundant in the south, where they form a characteristic feature in the landscape, often covering whole hill-slopes.

[COLLINSIA—Collinsia bicolor.]

A. stachyoides frequently forms dense thickets over vast reaches of mountain-side, and when in full bloom is very noticeable. Its specific name is a happy one, denoting its resemblance to the Stachys, or hedge-nettle. But its pointed leaves, shrubby habit, and rank odor, together with its more numerous flower-whorls, proclaim its separate identity.