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An example collection, so you can see what this page does. Nothing added here is kept: leaving deletes it.
Clinopodium douglasii; photograph Gordon Leppig & Andrea J. Pickart, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Public domainGordon Leppig & Andrea J. Pickart, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Clinopodium douglasii (Benth.) Kuntze

Lamiaceae · Alaska, British Columbia +5

English names not checked: Wikidata's common names were not read for this page.

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Clinopodium douglasii, photograph Joyce Cory on Flickr as docentjoyce, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsClinopodium douglasii, photograph brewbooks from near Seattle, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsClinopodium douglasii, photograph ALAN SCHMIERER, CC0, via Wikimedia CommonsClinopodium douglasii, photograph John Rusk from Berkeley, CA, United States of America, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsClinopodium douglasii, photograph Iamnotabunny, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsClinopodium douglasii, photograph Iamnotabunny, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons 12 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
0.4°C
Record low -4.6 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
24°C
Aug at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,026mm
9 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
10–49DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet winters: the rain comes November to March, read as a winter growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Clinopodium douglasii, (synonym Micromeria douglasii), yerba buena, or Oregon tea is a rambling aromatic herb of western and northwestern North America, ranging from British Columbia southwards to Southern California and from the Pacific coast eastwards to western Montana. The plant takes the form of a sprawling, mat-forming perennial. The name "yerba buena" derives from Spanish for "good herb" and is applied to various other plants.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Clinopodium douglasii", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Clinopodium

Clinopodium is a genus of flowering plants in the family Lamiaceae, in the subtribe Menthinae. Clinopodium belongs to a large and complex group of genera including many New World mints such as Hedeoma, Monarda, and Pycnanthemum, and this group is in turn a sister clade to Mentha. The genus name Clinopodium is derived from the Latin clinopodion, from the Ancient Greek κλινοπόδιον (klinopódion), from κλίνη (klínē) "bed" and πόδιον (pódion) "little foot". More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Clinopodium", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a winter growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (751 mm of 996 mm) falls in November to March, cooler than the year (wet-season mean 7.1 °C against a yearly mean of 11.6 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: May to September.

Rain

996 mm in the median year at the habitat, 751 mm of it November to March. Wettest month December at 179 mm, driest month July at 9 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 570 mm to 1,771 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,026 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 996 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 10 to 49 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 5, the highest 90th-percentile month 52).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 0.4 °C, the absolute minimum -4.6 °C, 114 frost nights in 44 years, 2.6 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 29.5 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 3.9 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range -1.3 °C to 8.0 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 23.6 °C in August (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 0.4 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 58 to 64% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +225 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Clinopodium douglasii through the yearWarmest month August, mean daily high 24 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 3.9 °C; 996 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-10°0°10°20°30°40°frost29.5° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-4.6° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 10–49RH 58–64%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 617 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C10 / 5–1412 / 6–1513 / 9–1715 / 11–1917 / 14–2220 / 16–2523 / 18–2924 / 18–2921 / 17–2718 / 13–2312 / 7–179 / 4–14
Night °C4 / -1–85 / -1–86 / 1–97 / 3–109 / 6–1111 / 9–1313 / 12–1514 / 12–1513 / 10–1410 / 6–137 / 2–104 / -2–8
Rain mm174 / 96–278141 / 82–216118 / 73–19263 / 39–12746 / 14–9427 / 3–699 / 1–3111 / 1–3622 / 5–5967 / 30–156139 / 66–281179 / 89–319
DLI12 / 6–1718 / 12–2326 / 20–3236 / 29–4143 / 35–4748 / 38–5249 / 41–5243 / 36–4735 / 27–3923 / 15–2913 / 7–2010 / 5–16
RH %64 / 58–6863 / 60–6562 / 59–6560 / 57–6460 / 55–6559 / 54–6558 / 51–6659 / 51–6759 / 52–6561 / 54–6563 / 57–6863 / 58–68
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 617 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (1605 records in those cells; 13 more cells hold records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cells are left out), with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1042:1155 (37.875, -122.225). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -4.6 °C, 1st-percentile night 0.4 °C, 99th-percentile day 29.5 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 617 distinct grid cells holding 1605 of the 1640 in-range records (13 further cells with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1042:1155 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 38.00_-122.500, lapse-corrected +225 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 312 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.

This species has no GBIF key of its own. Its records are GBIF's under the key of the name Kew's World Checklist holds as this plant: 5606562 (Micromeria douglasii Benth., 1992 records). No name was matched to GBIF; the keys are read from Kew's synonymy. How.

NativeAlaska, British Columbia, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, California · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker37.472, -122.284 · in the densest population, 936 records (53% of those in range)
Kew's description“subshrub” · “temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 1773 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 1605 of them in the land cells it reads, of 1640 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 466 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 1258 km away. 133 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
Other GBIF keysRecords also from GBIF's key 5606562 (Micromeria douglasii Benth.): Kew's file holds it as Micromeria douglasii Benth. (synonym under Clinopodium douglasii (Benth.) Kuntze); 1,992 records, from GBIF's download.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 1773 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Clinopodium douglasii, photograph 1did not loadClinopodium douglasii, photograph 2did not loadClinopodium douglasii, photograph 3did not loadClinopodium douglasii, photograph 4did not loadClinopodium douglasii, photograph 5did not loadClinopodium douglasii, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: Joyce Cory on Flickr as docentjoyce, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; brewbooks from near Seattle, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; ALAN SCHMIERER, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons; John Rusk from Berkeley, CA, United States of America, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Iamnotabunny, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (2).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Anisocarpus madioides Anisocarpus madioides Woodland tarweed Photo: CC BY, Sarah MacGregorTriphysaria pusilla Triphysaria pusilla Dwarf owl's-clover Photo: CC BY, Dee Shea Himes Luzula subsessilis Juncaceae Platanthera elegans Platanthera elegans Elegant rein orchid Photo: CC BY, Karen (with occasional help from Mike)Arbutus menziesii Arbutus menziesii Pacific madrone Photo: CC BY, Skyler KJuncus bolanderi Juncus bolanderi Bolander's rush Photo: CC BY, Aaron Liston

Other Clinopodium 30 in the reference

Clinopodium acinos Clinopodium acinos Basil thyme Photo: CC0, author not statedClinopodium album Clinopodium album Lamiaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedClinopodium alpinum Clinopodium alpinum Rock Thyme Photo: CC BY, Edmundas GreimasClinopodium arkansanum Clinopodium arkansanum Low calamint Photo: CC BY, Katie KuceraClinopodium ashei Clinopodium ashei Ashe's calamint Photo: CC BY, carterClinopodium bolivianum Clinopodium bolivianum Inca muña Photo: CC BY, Tomás Carranza PeralesClinopodium brownei Clinopodium brownei Browne's savory Photo: CC0, author not statedClinopodium carolinianum Clinopodium carolinianum Georgia calamint Photo: CC BY, Leila DasherClinopodium chandleri Clinopodium chandleri San Miguel calamint Photo: CC BY, Adam J. SearcyClinopodium chilense Clinopodium chilense Chilean Calamint Photo: CC0, author not statedClinopodium chinense Clinopodium chinense Chinese Clinopodium Photo: CC BY, Ben CostamagnaClinopodium coccineum Clinopodium coccineum Scarlet calamint Photo: CC0, author not stated all 31 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Micromeria chamissonis; Thymus douglasii; Satureja douglasii; Thymus chamissonis; Micromeria douglasii and 1 more. (WCVP, RBG Kew)

IPNIPOWOWikidataWFOWikipedia

The record

Family
Lamiaceae
Described by
(Benth.) Kuntze
Native to
Alaska, British Columbia, Idaho +4
Wild records
1773 in range · 466 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
Kew's names (WCVP) kew.names answeredas of 2026-06-04Kew's entry Clinopodium douglasii (Benth.) Kuntze (plant_name_id 43517), read from Kew's names file
GBIF species record gbif.species not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21this species has no GBIF key of its own; its records are read under GBIF's keys for the names Kew's file holds as this plant, never by a name matched; GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 1992 records of GBIF's key 5606562, Micromeria douglasii Benth. (Kew's file holds it as Micromeria douglasii Benth. (synonym under Clinopodium douglasii (Benth.) Kuntze)): the GBIF download; 57 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (51 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 1 at a herbarium, 5 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 38.00_-122.500, lapse-corrected +225 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22found by Kew's IPNI identifier 61186-2, POWO 61186-2
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild not asked
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
Wikimedia Commons commons answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 47 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…