Data provided by the participants of the Consortium of California Herbaria

View additional distribution information on the Jepson eflora

Monardella crispa is a rare species of flowering plant in the mint family known by the common name crisp monardella. It is endemic to California, where it is known only from the sand dunes on the coastline of San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties. It is an aromatic perennial herb growing in a spreading woolly mat or mound with one or more stems up to half a meter in length. The fleshy, waxy, sometimes woolly leaves are 1 to 5 centimeters long and borne in clusters along the stem. The flower cluster is a head of several flowers blooming in a cup of papery, hairy purplish to straw-colored leafs. The flowers are purplish pink in color.

Plant type

Annual herb

Size

2 ft Tall

Calscape icon
Color

Purple

Sun

Full Sun

Site type

Unstable dunes

Plant communities

Coastal Sage Scrub, Coastal Strand

Hummingbirds
Bees
Caterpillars
Butterflies

Butterflies and moths supported

0 confirmed and 6 likely

Confirmed Likely

Anstenoptilia marmarodactyla

Oso Flaco Flightless Moth

Areniscythris brachypteris

Orange Tortrix Moth

Argyrotaenia franciscana

Pyrausta dapalis