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Lepechinia hastata; photograph (c) Jose Luis Leon de la Luz, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Jose Luis Leon de la Luz, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2015-10-30

Lepechinia hastata (A.Gray) Epling

Baja Pitcher Sage; Cape Pitcher Sage; Island Pitcher Sage; Pakata

Lamiaceae · Mexican Pacific Is., Mexico Northwest

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Lepechinia hastata, photograph (c) Abraham Sánchez Romero, some rights reserved (CC BY)Lepechinia hastata, photograph (c) Abraham Sánchez Romero, some rights reserved (CC BY)Lepechinia hastata, photograph (c) Abraham Sánchez Romero, some rights reserved (CC BY)Lepechinia hastata, photograph (c) MarvalPhotography19, some rights reserved (CC BY)Lepechinia hastata, photograph (c) MarvalPhotography19, some rights reserved (CC BY)Lepechinia hastata, photograph (c) MarvalPhotography19, some rights reserved (CC BY) 62 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
8.2°C
Record low 3.4 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
30°C
Jun at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
523mm
5 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
27–51DLI
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 summers: the rain comes July to September, read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Lepechinia hastata is a rare species of perennial shrub in the mint family commonly known as the Cape pitcher sage or Baja pitcher sage. Lepechinia hastata is an aromatic shrub characterized by large, arrowhead-shaped leaves and attractive purple to magenta flowers. In the wild, it is known from the forested mountains of the Sierra de la Laguna in Baja California Sur and the volcanic Socorro Island in the Pacific Ocean, both part of Mexico. The plants of Socorro Island are their own subspecies, and differ in their white flowers and wooly, grayer foliage.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Lepechinia hastata", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Lepechinia

Lepechinia is a genus of plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae. It includes several species of plants known commonly as pitchersages. Plants of this genus can be found in Central and South America, Mexico, California, Hispaniola, and Hawaii, although the species in Hawaii is probably a human introduction. More on Wikipedia ›

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

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (391 mm of 515 mm) falls in July to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 24.3 °C against a yearly mean of 20.4 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: January to March.

Rain

515 mm in the median year at the habitat, 391 mm of it July to September. Wettest month September at 188 mm, driest month May at 0 mm; 4 months under 5 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 477 mm to 628 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 523 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 515 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: 27 to 51 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 25, 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 8.2 °C, the absolute minimum 3.4 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 32.3 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 9.8 °C in February (across the grid cells of the range 7.0 °C to 21.5 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 30.1 °C in June (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 8.2 °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: 41 to 62% 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 +616 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 Lepechinia hastata through the yearWarmest month June, mean daily high 30 °C; coldest month February, mean nightly low 9.8 °C; 515 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.0°5°10°15°20°25°30°35°32.3° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER3.4° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250mm rainDLI 27–51RH 41–62%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 20 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 °C22 / 20–2323 / 21–2424 / 22–2627 / 23–2829 / 23–3130 / 24–3229 / 26–3128 / 26–3127 / 25–2927 / 24–2925 / 23–2723 / 21–24
Night °C10 / 7–2210 / 7–2210 / 8–2213 / 10–2215 / 12–2218 / 15–2319 / 16–2520 / 16–2619 / 16–2517 / 14–2514 / 11–2411 / 9–23
Rain mm28 / 27–338 / 7–103 / 3–41 / 1–30 / 0–12 / 2–1361 / 57–95142 / 126–164188 / 160–20846 / 43–8716 / 14–3120 / 18–31
DLI29 / 27–3136 / 33–3843 / 41–4448 / 45–4951 / 47–5250 / 44–5044 / 41–4540 / 39–4236 / 35–3836 / 34–3731 / 29–3327 / 25–30
RH %48 / 42–6145 / 40–5944 / 38–5841 / 37–6043 / 38–6148 / 47–6457 / 56–6760 / 59–7062 / 61–7155 / 52–6851 / 45–6550 / 43–63
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 20 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (81 records in those cells; 1 more cell holds records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cell is 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 1328:1402 (23.575, -109.875). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 3.4 °C, 1st-percentile night 8.2 °C, 99th-percentile day 32.3 °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 20 distinct grid cells holding 81 of the 82 in-range records (1 further cell with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1328:1402 (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 23.50_-110.000, lapse-corrected +616 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 891 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.
NativeMexican Pacific Is., Mexico Northwest · introduced: Hawaii · 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 marker23.551, -109.976 · in the densest population, 70 records (69% of those in range)
Kew's description“subshrub or shrub” · “desert or dry shrubland” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 102 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 81 of them in the land cells it reads, of 82 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 56 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 1 km away. 8 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 20 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.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 102 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Lepechinia hastata, photograph 1did not loadLepechinia hastata, photograph 2did not loadLepechinia hastata, photograph 3did not loadLepechinia hastata, photograph 4did not loadLepechinia hastata, photograph 5did not loadLepechinia hastata, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Abraham Sánchez Romero, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) MarvalPhotography19, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3).

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

Morangaya pensilis Morangaya pensilis Cactaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Michael WolfPopulus brandegeei Populus brandegeei Brandegee Poplar Photo: CC BY, Abraham Sánchez RomeroNolina beldingii Nolina beldingii Asparagaceae Photo: CC BY, ElisaGomphrena sonorae Gomphrena sonorae Sonoran globe amaranth Photo: CC BY, CK2AZCalliandra peninsularis Calliandra peninsularis Fabaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedCochemiea phitauiana Cochemiea phitauiana Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, MarvalPhotography19

Other Lepechinia 10 in the reference

Lepechinia betonicifolia Lepechinia betonicifolia Lamiaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Subia JohnLepechinia calycina Lepechinia calycina California Pitcher Sage Photo: CC BY, er-birdsLepechinia caulescens Lepechinia caulescens Lamiaceae Photo: CC BY, Jose Manuel Ramos MartinezLepechinia chilensis Lepechinia chilensis Lamiaceae Photo: CC BY, Bruno Avilez Lepechinia conferta Lamiaceae Lepechinia floribunda Lepechinia floribunda Lamiaceae Photo: CC BY, cactusauriaLepechinia fragrans Lepechinia fragrans Fragrant pitcher sage Photo: CC BY, AmyLepechinia meyenii Lepechinia meyenii Lamiaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedLepechinia salviae Lepechinia salviae Lamiaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedLepechinia salviifolia Lepechinia salviifolia Lamiaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Thibaud Aronson

Names & registers

Also known as Alguelaguen hastatum; Alguelagum hastatum; Sphacele hastata. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Lamiaceae
Described by
(A.Gray) Epling
Native to
Mexican Pacific Is., Mexico Northwest
Wild records
102 in range · 56 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
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 4 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (4 at a botanic garden or arboretum; 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 23.50_-110.000, lapse-corrected +616 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22none of the photographs on this page is credited to GBIF: those shown are other sources', and GBIF's were the same photographs or were set aside by the photograph rules
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 19 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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