6FLHQWL¿FQDPH Scrophularia californica
Synonyms: names once called S. californica: S. desertoruim and S. oregana
Origin: Native to California
Plant description: Scrophularia californica is a perennial
with stems that are 80-120 cm (~31.5-47.2 in) long. The larger leaves are 8-17 cm (~ 3.1-6.7 in), and range in color from dark to light green and can be heart-shaped or more truncate as if the end with the stem appears more or less cut off. It can also occasionally be wedge-shaped. 7KHPDLQVWHPRIWKHLQÀRUHVFHQFHDQGWKHVWDONVRIWKH ÀRZHUV DUH JODQGXODU SRVVLEO\ LQGLFDWHG E\ EHLQJ VWLFN\ DQG DUH FRYHUHG ZLWK ¿QH VKRUW KDLUV 7KH FDO\[ OREHV1 are 3-4 mm (~0.12-0.16 in), are a triangular egg shape, green, with the unattached end pointed or rounded and the edges generally thin, dry and membranous and not green. The corolla (all the petals) is 8-12 mm (~0.2-0,47 in) and bulky. The mouth is more or less constricted, with the upper lobes a reddish to maroon color the lower petals a paler and more or less a yellowish green. There is a sterile stamen (staminode) that has a tip that is club shaped or expanded and attached at the small end. The stigma of the pistil that receives the pollen during pollination is headlike.[3]
Distribution: within the area shown in the
included map, it is common in damp places, chaparral2, roadsides at under 2500m
(~8202 ft).[3] Richter[6] describes the species as being common in moist places, mostly along gulches in the hills, Coast ranges, Sierra Nevada and Southern California. Vansell and Eckert[8] state that it is found mostly in partial shade.
Blooming period: Richter[6] provides a blooming range of May-
June and also states that Jepson claimed in southern California that it blooms as early as March. The 2012 Jepson Manual[3] indicates a blooming period of March to July]. Vansell and Eckert[8] in their summarizing table indicates that it blooms May-June.
Importance as a honey plant: Richter[6] places the species in his
secondary honey plant list, indicating that occasionally the species yields a surplus. Later in his publication he states that it is an excellent honey plant, and although it is never abundant, there is no GRXEWWKDWVRPH¿JZRUWKRQH\LVVWRUHG
,¿QGQRPHPEHUVRIWKH6FURSKXODULDFHDHPHQWLRQHGE\3URIHVVRU George Coleman[2] in his 1921-1922 monthly enumerations of the bee forage of the California National Forests.
Oertel[5], from his extensive set of questionnaires, found the species to be important in CA and WA. From the distribution map, it seems likely that the one from Washington was possibly a closely related species, which at the time might have been called
Scrophularia californica by one or more of the questionnaire
respondents, or might have actually carried that name in the VFLHQWL¿FOLWHUDWXUHRIWKHWLPHDQGODWHUZDVJLYHQDGLIIHUHQWVSHFLHV epithet (second name in the species name).
Ayers and Harman[1] who partitioned North America more from an ecological perspective rather than by political boundaries, from their questionnaires found the species to be of some importance in what they referred to as “south and central California.”
John Lovell[4] describes Scrophularia californica as having the potential to be of great value in the California mountains if it were more common.
Vansell and Eckert[8] in their text state that “It is a heavy yielder”
&DOLIRUQLD¿JZRUW
ŝƐƚƌŝďƵƟŽŶ
Scrophularia californica[7]
Scrophularia californicaŇŽǁĞƌƐ͘WůĂŶƚƐǁĞƌĞŐƌŽǁŶŝŶĂŐƌĞĞŶŚŽƵƐĞĂŶĚƚŚĞƌĞĨŽƌĞďůŽŽŵŝŶŐĚĂƚĂŝƐŽĨŶŽǀĂůƵĞ͘WůĂŶƚƐ obtained from the Las Pilitas Nursery in Santa Margarita, CA.
1 &DO\[ 7KHPRVWRXWHUZKRUORIDÀRZHUWKDWRULJLQDOO\FRYHUHGWKH
bud. See Kennon Lorick’s Glossary page 1352 December 2015 of ABJ.
2 Chaparral: a vegetation type characterized by mostly evergreen
American Bee Journal
478
and in their summarizing table credit the species as being a ‘fairly important’ honey producer.
Honey: Vansell and Eckert[8] claim that the species is a heavy
yielder of “water-white bland honey.” In their summarizing table however, they call it white to light amber.
Pollen: In their summarizing table Vansell and Eckert[8] consider it
to be of only of minor importance for pollen production.
The author is grateful to the Michigan State University Herbarium for the use of its library and the permission to see and photograph parts of its collection.
References
1. Ayers, G. and J. Harman. 1992. Bee Forage of North America
and Potential for Planting for Bees. Inventory and Relative Im- portance of Nectar and Pollen Plants of North America. In: The
Hive and the Honey Bee. J. M. Graham Editor. Dadant and Sons.
Hamilton, IL.
2. Coleman, G. A. 1921-1922. Beekeeping in our California Na-
tional Forests. No. II. Honey Flora. This is a series of very short monthly articles that appeared in the Western Honey Bee of the period shown.
3. Kersh, K. R. 2012. 6FURSKXODULD ¿JZRUW 7KH -HSVRQ 0DQXDO
Vascular Plants of California (2nd edition) Page 1246. University of california Press. Berkeley, CA.
4. Lovell, J. 1926. Honey Plants of North America. A. I. Root Co.
Medina, OH.
5. Oertel, E. 1939. Honey and Pollen Plants of the United States.
86'$&LUFXODU86*RYHUQPHQW3ULQWLQJ2I¿FH:DVK- ington D. C.
6. Richter, M. C. 1911. Honey Plants of California. Colege of Ag-
riculture, Agricultural Experiment Station (Berkeley, CA.) Bul- letin 217.
7. USDA, NRCS. 2015. The PLANTS Database (http://plants.
usda. gov, 28 December 2015). National Plant Data Team,
Greensboro, NC 27401-4901 USA.
8. Vansell, G. H. and J. E. Eckert. 1941. Nectar and Pollen Plants of California. Bulletin 517. University of California. Berkeley, CA.