This common plant was photographed on May 28, 2006.
California hedge nettle, sometimes called wood mint, is a common slender annual with an erect square stem that rises from a procumbent base to a height of 2-1/2'. The hairs on the angles of the stem are stiff and reflexed, those on the sides are soft and glandular. The flowers appear in separate whorls with six flowers in each whorl. The corolla is 1/2" long, two-lipped with the lower twice as long as the upper, and pink to light-purplish with 4 exserted stamens. The calyx is hairy and 5-toothed, the teeth triangular and spine-tipped. The leaves of this hedge nettle are ovate to oblong-ovate to 7" long and opposite with scalloped edges and a subcordate base. This species inhabits moist to dryish slopes and partially-shaded canyons to 4000' (mostly below 1500') in chaparral and coastal sage scrub from Orange Co. north, and blooms from April to September. California hedge nettle is not one of the stinging nettles and has a pleasant lemon scent when rubbed. (From http://www.calflora.net/bloomingplants/californiahedgenettle.html)