WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

Numerous square, hairy stems sprout from the root crowns of this colony-forming plant. A  spike with a series of separated whorls, or clusters, of densely packed, small, purple to white flowers decorate the branching, top sections of the 1–2 1/2-foot stems. Note the purple, oblong, leaf-like bracts with long bristle-like tips beneath the whorls of flowers.

FLOWER: May–June. The 1/4–3/4-inch (7–19 mm) long, light-purple to white flowers have an arching upper lip and a protruding lower lip with purple marks. Note the tiny tube (calyx) holding each flower has lobes with hairy margins and ends with a long, bristle-like tips. Leaf-like oblong, purple bracts with long bristle-like tips surround each whorl of flowers and remain showy after the flowers fade. The bract margins are lined with scattered hairs and the inner and outer ones are the same shape.

LEAVES: Opposite. Blades lance-shaped reaching 2 3/8-inches (6 cm) long with petioles (stems) to 1 3/16-inch (3 cm) long. Margins vary from entire to toothed. The lemon aroma comes from citronellol, a natural insect repellent.   

HABITAT: Sandy, gravelly soils, roadsides, riparian areas, meadows; grasslands, pinyon-juniper, ponderosa woodlands.

ELEVATION: 4,000–7,800 feet.

RANGE: AZ, KA, NM, OK, TX.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Plains Beebalm, M. pectinata, in western and eastern NM, has white to pink flowers but green, leaf-like bracts also with long bristle-tips and outer ones larger than inner ones. Spotted Beebalm, M. punctata, statewide, has whitish to pinkish-lavender bracts without long bristle-tips, and the flowers vary from yellow to purplish or white with purple dots. Low Beebalm,  M. humilis (M. punctata var. humilis), in Catron, Cibola, McKinley, Sandoval, and Socorro counties, has bracts without bristle tips, an unspotted upper lip, and a white lower lip with purple spots and a purple margin (edge).

NM COUNTIES: Southern half of NM, scattered elsewhere in low- to mid-elevation, dry habitats: Catron, Chaves, Cibola, Dona Ana, Eddy, Grant, Hidalgo, Lincoln, Los Alamos, Roosevelt, San Juan, San Miguel, Santa Fe, Sierra, Socorro.