Plant: shrub; 35-100(-150) cm high, often broader than tall, pubescent; stems much branched; lateral branches often clustered, divaricate, with rigid, spinose tips

Leaves: sessile to short-petiolate, 3-25 mm long, 2-8 mm wide; blade narrowly ovate to elliptic or lanceolate; margin entire; base tapering

INFLORESCENCE: racemose; bracts reduced or absent; flowers 1 per axil

Flowers: pedicellate; calyx strongly zygomorphic, tan to purplish, the 2 lips rounded and entire, the basal portion in fruit much inflated, bladder-like, 14-20 mm long, approaching spherical; corolla zygomorphic, 10-25 mm long, the tube exceeding calyx, the upper lip whitish and hooded, the lower lip 3-lobed with its central lobe dark purple with a central white line; stamens 4, included in hood, the longer pair of stamens with 1 anther sac strongly reduced or abortive, the anther sacs slightly divaricate, blue, ciliate along margins and with sac-like glandular hairs around connective; ovary stalked, deeply lobed; stigma with one lobe nearly obsolete, appearing pointed

Fruit: NUTLETS broadly ovoid, 2-3 mm long, glabrous, irregularly papillate, olive-green, on a stalk ca. 2 mm long

Misc: Sandy and rocky areas and washes of the Sonoran Desert to pinyon-juniper chaparral; 350-1350 m (1200-5200 ft); Mar-Oct

Notes: calyx inflated when in fruit to 1-2cm in diameter

References: W. B. McDougall. Seed Plants of Northern Arizona. J.C. Hickman, ed. The Jepson Manual. Kearney and Peebles. Arizona Flora. ASU specimens. Walters, Gretchen M. 2003. Lamiaceae. J. Ariz. - Nev. Acad. Sci. Volume 35(2).

Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Shrub

General: Herbaceous or shrubby perennials, to 1.5 m tall, stems with spreading lateral branches, these rigid, with tips becoming spine-like in age, twigs more or less canescent.

Leaves: Opposite, sessile or short-petiolate and ovate to elliptic, 3-20 mm long and 2-8 mm wide, with rounded bases and entire margins, surfaces glabrous to puberulent.

Flowers: Bilabiate with a hooded, white upper lip and a violet or purple, split lower lip, the corolla 15-25 mm long , upper lip entire, white to light violet, lower lip 3 lobed, calyx lobes equal, entire, purple, 1-2 cm in age, becoming bladder-like in fruit, stamens 4, generally enclosed by upper lip, lower stamen pair smaller than the upper pair, anthers ciliate, infloresences axillary at distal 3-10 nodes, flowers in pairs of 2, axis finely glandular-puberulent.

Fruits: Widely ovoid nutlets with rough surfaces, brown or black, short-stalked, tubercled.

Ecology: Found on sandy to gravelly soils on slopes, in washes, scrub, foothills, and woodlands, among creosote-bush and juniper associations, to 6,000 ft (1829 m); flowering March-June and October.

Distribution: Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, Texas.

Notes: Good indicators for this species are the paired, inflated, globose to ovoid fruits 1-2 cm in diameter, bilabiate flowers with a white, hooded upper lip and split, lower purple lip, and the gray or dusty green, slender, woody, and nearly naked stems. This species is listed in the new Jepson manual as Scutellaria mexicana as of May 2012. Kearney and Peebles note this species occurs mostly below 3,000 feet in Arizona among creosote and juniper communities.

Ethnobotany: Unknown.

Etymology: Salazaria is named after Don Jose Salazar (1823-1892), Mexican commissioner on the Boundary Survey, and mexicana means of or from Mexico.

Synonyms: None

Editor: LCrumbacher2012