Mondela Purpurea

1.

is not so big
weighing six ounces

the Bill black the Eyes gray
At a distance they seem all black

but at a nearer view appear purple
particularly the Head and Neck has most lustre

the Wing, Back and Tail darkest


2.

in all parts of the country
but most in remote and unfrequented places

from whence in Autumn after a vast increase

they assemble together
and come amongst the Inhabitants in such numbers

that they sometimes darken the air
In winter they flock to barn-doors

They have a rank smell;
their flesh is course, black, and is seldom eat

Monardella purpurea

means little purple Monarda named
                         for Nicolas Monardes a Spanish
           Renaissance physician and botanist           (whose
" Joyfull newes out of the new-found worlde" made tobacco a household
                                      remedy throughout Europe)
leaves green or green flushed with purple          everything else
                    stems, bracts, calyx lobes, and corolla
purple        brachts modified leaf-like structures that subtend
                                                 the flower head
calyx the hairy ring of fused sepals that envelops
                             the flower tube at its base
uncommon on rocky slopes      often serpentine     chaparral
            woodland, and montane forests from the Klamath
and Outer North Coast Ranges