Salvia columbariae

Chia

Family: Lamiaceae · Type: annual · Native

Chia is a California native annual found in dry, disturbed sites, chaparral, and coastal sage scrub across California (excluding the Klamath Ranges, Cascade Range, and northern Sierra Nevada) at elevations generally below 2,500 meters. Flowering from March to June, this plant produces pale to deep blue flowers with purple-tipped calyxes in distinctive clusters along scapose stems. Growing 10 to 50 centimeters tall with sparse, short hairs, it develops an upright, slender form. Its basal leaves are uniquely divided into 2 to 10 centimeter blades with oblong-ovate shapes, intricately cut into irregularly rounded lobes with tiny bristly edges. The fruit is small, measuring 1.5 to 2 millimeters long and ranging in color from tan to gray.

Habitat: Dry, disturbed sites, chaparral, coastal-sage scrub

Bloom period: Mar-Jun

Elevation: generally < 2500 m

Bioregions: CA (exc KR, CaRH, n SNH)

California counties: Riverside, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, San Diego, Inyo, Kern, Tulare, Ventura, Orange, San Benito, San Mateo, Fresno, Monterey, Santa Barbara, Alameda, Santa Clara, Sonoma, Lake, San Joaquin, El Dorado, Napa, Contra Costa, Imperial, Shasta, Stanislaus, Kings, Mono, Colusa, Glenn, Butte, Tehama, Merced, Sutter, Marin, Tuolumne, Santa Cruz, Mariposa, Solano, Trinity, Mendocino, Yolo

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.