Salvia sonomensis

Creeping sage

Family: Lamiaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Creeping sage is a California native shrub found in the Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, California Ranges, northern and central Sierra Nevada Foothills, southern San Francisco Bay Area, southern Coast Ranges, and southern California coastal areas in chaparral, oak woodland, and yellow-pine forest at elevations below 2,000 meters. Flowering from March to July, this plant produces blue to lilac or purple flowers in compact clusters 1 to 1.5 centimeters wide. Growing as a prostrate, mat-forming subshrub less than 40 centimeters tall with slender stems, it forms dense low-growing patches. Its leaves are lance-elliptic to obovate, 3 to 6 centimeters long and 5 to 15 millimeters wide, with a puckered surface, white undersides densely covered in recurved hairs, and minute rounded teeth. The fruit is a small 2.5-millimeter oblong brown seed.

Habitat: Locally common. Chaparral, oak woodland, yellow-pine forest, dry slopes

Bloom period: Mar-Jul

Elevation: < 2000 m

Bioregions: KR, NCoR, CaRF, n&ampc SNF, s SnFrB, SCoR, SCo.

California counties: San Luis Obispo, Monterey, Lake, El Dorado, Siskiyou, San Diego, Butte, Shasta, Fresno, Trinity, Nevada, Calaveras, Sonoma, San Benito, Amador, Santa Barbara, San Mateo, Los Angeles, Tehama, Napa, Alpine, Sacramento, Santa Clara, Mariposa, Yuba, Solano, Placer, Tulare, Orange

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