Agastache wrightii (Greenm.) Woot. & Standl.
Family: Lamiaceae
Description: This Agastache differs from all other Agastache in
the region, except for A. micrantha, by its small flowers.
The calyx tube is less than 3 mm long. It has thicker leaves
than A. micrantha, the leaves usually not wrinkling upon
drying, the leaves mostly 1.5-2.0 (rather than 2.5-3.0) times
longer than wide. Agastache micrantha is primarily of
the Chihuahuan Desert region; A. wrightii occurs where
the Sonoran influence is stronger.
Distribution: Central Arizona to southwestern New Mexico,
northeastern Sonora and extreme west-central Chihuahua (Sanders
1987).
Plants Seen or Cited: New Mexico; Grant Co.; Mule Mts.,
4 mi W and 2.5 mi S of town of Mule Creek, 11 Sep 1977, Harris
s.n. (UTEP); Mangas Springs, 18 mi NW of Silver City, 5 Sep
1903, Metcalfe 655 (ARIZ, CAS, GH, NMC, US); Hidalgo Co.,
Animas Mts., Lower Indian Creek Canyon, 4 Oct 1975, Wagner
1772 (UNM). Sanders (1987) also cites one of his collections
from the Animas Mts. (TEX); this and the Metcalfe collection cited
above are the only records from New Mexico that he cites or maps.
UNM and UTEP also each have a specimen from south-central Arizona.
Habitat: Canyons, hills and montane slopes, 4,500-6,500
ft (Martin and Hutchins 1981); upper Sonoran zone (Wooton and
Standley 1915); rich soil, canyons and slopes, 4,000-6,000 ft
(Kearney and Peebles 1969); igneous rock outcrops in protected
gravelly creek banks in shallow stream courses and canyons, usually
with sclerophyllous oaks and grasses or scatter ponderosa pines,
1100-2000 m (Sanders 1987).
Discussion: Wooton and Standley (1915) record the species
from the Mogollon Mts. and the Organ Mts. Sanders does not record
the species as far east as the Organ Mts., instead noting that
a close congener, A. micrantha, occurs there. No authors
cited herein indicate rarity of the species; Sanders (1987) hints
at its more or less specialized nature by stating that it occurs
in "isolated mountains and savannahs." Agastache wrightii
has a reasonably wide range, occurring from central Arizona to west-central
Chihuahua and northeastern Sonora. It apparently is rarely collected in
New Mexico, where it is peripheral.
Important Literature:
Kearney, T.H. and R.H. Peebles. 1969. Arizona Flora, 2nd
ed. (with supplement by J.T. Howell, Elizabeth McClintock, et
al.). Univ. California Press, Berkeley. 1085 pp.
Martin, W.C. and C.R. Hutchins. 1981. A Flora of New Mexico,
vol. 2. J. Cramer, Vaduz. Pp. 1277-2591.
Sanders, R.W. 1987. Taxonomy of Agastache section Brittonastrum
(Lamiaceae-Nepeteae). Systematic Botany Monographs 15:1-92.
Wooton, E.O. and P.C. Standley. 1915. Flora of New Mexico.
Contr. U.S. Natl. Herbarium 19: 1-794.
Information Compiled By: Richard Spellenberg, 1998
