Salvia mellifera
From California Natives Wiki
Species Name: Salvia mellifera
Common Name: Black Sage
- Easy to grow--likes poor soils and hot, dry areas. Found locally from the Santa Monica Mtns, Verdugos, Santa Susanas, and San Gabriel Mtns. Flowers can be white, blue, or lavender. Leaves are very fragrant.
- Plant Family: Lamiaceae
- Plant Type: Perennial
- Height by Width: 5' H x 5' W
- Growth Habit: Rounded, dense and upright
- Deciduous/Evergreen: Evergreen
- Growth Rate: Fast
- Sun Exposure: Full sun
- Soil Preference: Adaptable
- Water Requirements: Drought-tolerant to occasional
- Cold Hardy to: 15 degrees F
- Flower Season: Spring/Summer
- Flower Color: White to lavender
- Endangered?: Not Listed
- Distribution: Coastal California from Monterey to Baja
- Natural Habitat: Coastal Sage Scrub, lower Chaparral below 3500'
- Care and Maintenance
- History
- Introduced into cultivation in California by Theodore Payne.
- From California Native Plants, Theodore Payne's 1941 catalog: "Leaves rather narrow, deep green, slightly crinkled. Flowers borne in whorls on erect stems, generally bluish lavender or white. In some localities a blue flowered form is found which is very superior. The plants offered here are raised from seed gathered from shrubs of this type in the Ojai Valley. Gallon cans, 40c."
- Other Names
- References
- Bornstein, Carol, David Fross, and Bart O'Brien. California Native Plants for the Garden. Los Olivos, CA: Cachuma Press. 2005.
- Links
