Salvia leucophylla

Purple sage, Purple Sage

Family: Lamiaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Purple sage is a California native shrub found in southern Central Coast, South Coast, western Transverse Ranges, and San Gabriel Mountains in dry, open hills and sea bluffs at elevations of 30 to 1,250 meters. Flowering from April to June, this plant produces rose-lavender flowers in dense clusters 1.5 to 4 centimeters wide with delicate, intricate branching. Growing as a prostrate to erect shrub less than 1.5 meters tall with dense, branched hairs, it has a distinctive architectural form. Its leaves are lance-oblong, 2 to 8 centimeters long, with puckered surfaces, slightly truncate to cordate bases, and small rounded teeth occasionally rolled under the leaf margin. The fruit is small, 2 to 3 millimeters long, in shades of brown or dark gray.

Habitat: Dry, open hills, sea bluffs

Bloom period: Apr-Jun

Elevation: 30-1250 m

Bioregions: s CCo, SCoR, SCo, WTR, SnGb

California counties: Los Angeles, Ventura, Orange, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Riverside, Monterey, San Diego, San Mateo, Kern, Contra Costa, Fresno

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