''Condea emoryi'' (synonym ''Hyptis emoryi)'', the desert lavender, is a large, multi-stemmed

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

species of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

Lamiaceae The Lamiaceae ( ) or Labiatae are a family of flowering plants commonly known as the mint, deadnettle or sage family. Many of the plants are aromatic in all parts and include widely used culinary herbs like basil, mint, rosemary, sage, savory ...

, the mint family. It is one of the favored plants of honeybees in early spring in the southwest deserts of

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

Description

Desert lavender is a medium to tall cold tender perennial shrub found in the

southwestern United States The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural region of the United States that generally includes Arizona, New Mexico, and adjacent portions of California, Colorado, Ne ...

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, and northwestern Mexico in

Sonora Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Sonora), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is d ...

and

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

. It is a multi-stemmed shrub reaching 15–18 ft in optimum locations. It has violet-blue flowers up to 1 in, in leaf axils. The flowers are profuse along the main stem and side branches and is an

aromatic In chemistry, aromaticity is a chemical property of cyclic ( ring-shaped), ''typically'' planar (flat) molecular structures with pi bonds in resonance (those containing delocalized electrons) that gives increased stability compared to satur ...

attractor of the honeybee and other species. Leaves are oval and a whitish gray-green-(in deserts), serrated margins, hairy, and 2–3 in. It is found in dry washes, and on rocky slopes, up to 3000 ft (900 m). It is evergreen or cold deciduous, depending on location.

Taxonomy

'' Hyptis'' was demonstrated to be polyphyletic on the basis of evidence from nuclear and plastid DNA. The new circumscription excluded ''Hyptis emoryi'', which was transferred to '' Condea.''

Distribution and habitat

It occurs mostly in areas with a water source; in the southwestern US deserts it is commonly in the dry washes, intermixed with other species. In the ''"

creosote bush ''Larrea tridentata'', called creosote bush and greasewood as a plant, chaparral as a medicinal herb, and ''gobernadora'' (Spanish language, Spanish for "governess") in Mexico, due to its ability to secure more water by inhibiting the growth of n ...

scrub"''

Yuma Desert The Yuma Desert is a lower-elevation section of the Sonoran Desert in the southwestern United States and the northwest of Mexico. It lies in the Salton basin. The desert contains areas of sparse vegetation and has notable areas of sand dunes. With ...

-(western Sonoran Desert) of southwest Arizona, it is found with the palo verde, '' Bebbia'', ''

Encelia farinosa ''Encelia farinosa'' (commonly known as brittlebush, brittlebrush, or incienso), is a common desert shrub of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. It has a variety of historical uses. Description Brittlebush grows up to tall, wi ...

'', desert ironwood ('' Olneya tesota''), '' Lycium andersonii'' (wolfberry or Anderson thornbush), ''

Psorothamnus spinosus ''Psorothamnus spinosus'', or ''Delea spinosa'', is a perennial legume tree of the deserts in North America. Common names include smokethorn, smoketree, smoke tree, smokethorn dalea, and corona de Cristo. Distribution ''P. Spinosus'' is nati ...

'' (a type of smoke tree), and ''

Acacia greggii ''Senegalia greggii'', formerly known as ''Acacia greggii'', is a species of tree in the genus ''Senegalia'' native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, from the extreme south of Utah south through southern Nevada, southeast Ca ...

'', as some common associated species of the washes, elevation dependent. In Arizona, found from central to southwestern Arizona of the

Sonoran Desert The Sonoran Desert ( es, Desierto de Sonora) is a desert in North America and ecoregion that covers the northwestern Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur, as well as part of the southwestern United States (in Arizona ...

; in northwest Arizona found in regions of the Mojave Desert. In southern California and Nevada, desert lavender is found in southern regions of the

Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert ( ; mov, Hayikwiir Mat'aar; es, Desierto de Mojave) is a desert in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Southwestern United States. It is named for the indigenous Mojave people. It is located primarily in ...

and the

Colorado Desert California's Colorado Desert is a part of the larger Sonoran Desert. It encompasses approximately , including the heavily irrigated Coachella and Imperial valleys. It is home to many unique flora and fauna. Geography and geology The Colorado De ...

of southeast California. File:Hyptisemoryi.jpg File:Hyptis emoryi 1.jpg File:Hyptis emoryi 2.jpg File:Hyptis emoryi 3.jpg File:Hyptis emoryi 4.jpg File:Hyptis emoryi 5.jpg

References

Jepson Manual TreatmentUSDA: NRCS: Plants Profile ''Hyptis emoryi''Arizona county rangeCaliforniaNevada
*

- Lady Bird Johnson–''"Wildflower Center"''

External links

Photo-stems & flowers
- desert-tropicals.com–''"Desert Tropicals"''
Photo: Rocky wash: w/Bebbia-(dried), Brittlebush">Photo: Rocky wash: w/Bebbia-(dried), Brittlebush
-in yellow bloom, and Saguaro on plain">Brittlebush
-in yellow bloom, and Saguaro">Brittlebush">Photo: Rocky wash: w/Bebbia-(dried), Brittlebush
-in yellow bloom, and Saguaro on plainbr>Article, Synopsis, and photo gallery
- delange.org—''"Arizona Wild Flowers"'' {{Taxonbar">from=Q5962178 Lamiaceae Flora of the Southwestern United States Flora of Northwestern Mexico">Flora of the Southwestern United States">Lamiaceae Flora of the Southwestern United States Flora of Northwestern Mexico North American desert flora