Bee Plant

One of the plants I see fairly often when hiking is Scrophularia californica, commonly known as bee plant. I usually see it growing at the base of a really large boulder. It is found along the coast from Baja to Oregon, as well as the Coast Ranges and the Sierras, in woodlands and chaparral.

I have one in my garden on the north side of the house where it is mostly shaded and the soil is more moist. I don't have a big rock on it which is maybe something I should fix. Even without a rock it survived the summer without any water when we were gone for two months. I take that as a good sign.

Scrophularia has a very odd little flower. As the common name says, it is attractive to bees. Honey bees and bumble bees are probably too big to fit into the flower, so small solitary bees are best suited to serve as pollinator. Hummingbirds will also visit it. The photo below shows the size of the flower in comparison with my fingers.

The foliage looks like this.

Calflora says it blooms from February through May, but mine is blooming now in October.  One source I read says it spreads by rhizomes and seeds. I haven't seen this yet but I hope it spreads as much as it likes.