Eriodictyon Trichocalyx, Hairy Yerba Santa

Eriodictyon trichocalyx has a limited distribution in south California, along the coast, across the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountains, to the hills on the west edge of the Mojave and Sonoran deserts. This is a shrub-like plant, growing up to 6 feet tall, bearing many dark green, somewhat shiny, leathery leaves, with a lightly hairy, sticky surface and edges that can be entire or gently toothed. The undersides generally have a denser hair covering. Leaf margins often curve down slightly, right at the edge. Stems are hairless or short-hairy.

The inflorescence is an elongated cluster of closely-spaced flowerheads; individual blooms have a hairy, purplish calyx with five narrow, pointed lobes, and a funnel-shaped, five-lobed corolla, also hairy on the outside, colored lavender to white, and up to half an inch in length. Two styles protrude slightly beyond the corolla lobes, while the five stamens are rather shorter. Buds are a darker shade of purple.