Salvia greatae

Orocopia sage, Orocopia Sage

Family: Lamiaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 1B.3

Orocopia sage is a rare (CNPS 1B.3) California native shrub found in the Orocopia and Chocolate Mountains in alluvial slopes at elevations of 30 to 450 meters. Flowering from March to April, this plant produces lavender to rose flowers with an upper lip 2 to 2.5 millimeters long and a lower lip 4 to 5 millimeters long. Growing less than one meter tall with glandular, tangled hairs, it forms dense clusters of many-flowered inflorescences. Its green-tomentose leaves are sessile to short-petioled, approximately ovate, with a single spine at the tip and 2 to 7 pairs of spines along the margins. The fruit is flat and keeled, measuring 2 to 3 millimeters long and ranging from gray to brown in color.

Habitat: Alluvial slopes

Bloom period: Mar-Apr

Elevation: 30-450 m

Bioregions: DSon (Orocopia, Chocolate mtns).

California counties: Riverside, Imperial, Monterey

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