Salvia funerea

Death valley sage, Death Valley Sage

Family: Lamiaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 4.3

Death valley sage is a California native shrub ranked 4.3 by CNPS, found in the northeastern Death Valley, Amargosa and Panamint ranges in dry washes and canyons at elevations below 1,700 meters. Flowering from March to June, this plant produces violet to blue flowers in small clusters of three, with a corolla tube 12 to 16 millimeters long. Growing 50 to 120 centimeters tall with densely branched, white-woolly stems, it forms a compact and textured shrub. Its leaves are short-petioled, approximately ovate, with occasional spines at the leaf tip, typically 9 to 20 millimeters long and often deciduous. The small brown fruits are approximately 3 millimeters long, contributing to the plant's delicate structural appearance.

Habitat: dry washes and canyons

Bloom period: Mar-Jun

Elevation: < 1700 m

Bioregions: ne DMoj (Death Valley, Amargosa and Panamint ranges).

California counties: San Bernardino, Inyo

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