Habit: Perennial herb, from rhizome; glabrous.
Stem: generally erect.
Leaf: petiolate, generally toothed, generally green.
Inflorescence: raceme, bracted, or flowers generally 2 per axil.
Flower: calyx generally green, lobes generally << tube, generally unequal; corolla generally deciduous, blue to violet, purplish, light pink to nearly white, limbs strongly bilabiate, lower lip base occasionally swollen, +- closing mouth; anther sacs spreading; placentas 2, axile; stigma lobes generally included.
Fruit: generally ovoid to fusiform, generally +- fragile, dehiscent to base, chambers 2.
Seed: many, generally < 1 mm, ovoid, +- yellow to dark brown.
Species In Genus: 7 species: North America, eastern Asia, southern Africa, New Zealand, Australia.
Etymology: (Latin: little mime or comic actor, from face-like corolla of some species)
Note: Limb width measured between most distant points across corolla face.
Jepson eFlora Author: Naomi S. Fraga [TJM2 author David M. Thompson]
Reference: Barker et al. 2012 Phytoneuron 39:1--60.
Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange)
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