''Salvia dorrii'', the purple sage, Dorr's sage, fleshy sage, mint sage, or tobacco sage, is a
perennial
A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...
spreading shrub in the family
Lamiaceae
The Lamiaceae ( )
or Labiatae are a family of flowering plants commonly known as the mint, deadnettle or sage family. Many of the plants are aromatic in all parts and include widely used culinary herbs like basil, mint, rosemary, sage, savory ...
. It is native to mountain areas in the western
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
and northwestern
Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
, found mainly in the
Great Basin
The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic basin, endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja California ...
and southward to the
Mojave Desert
The Mojave Desert ( ; mov, Hayikwiir Mat'aar; es, Desierto de Mojave) is a desert in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Southwestern United States. It is named for the indigenous Mojave people. It is located primarily in ...
, growing in dry, well draining soils.
Description
''Salvia dorrii'' is a woody subshrub reaching in height and width. The grey-green leaves are narrow and lanceolate, are tapered at the base and rounded at the tip generally without teeth or lobes. They are generally basal, and long. They have an intense but pleasant, mildly intoxicating minty aroma, with the scent released when the foliage is handled or crushed. The
inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...
is made up of spike-like clusters of numerous purple flowers that are bilaterally symmetric. Each cluster is across. Bracts are generally round long. Each calyx is usually . The upper lip is most often round without teeth or lobes. The lower lip lobes are pointed without spines. The color is variable, blue to purple to rose. The corolla tube is or so, often blue but sometimes purple to pink to white. The stamens and style protrude from the flower. The latter is forked at the tip. The flowers remain on the plants after being pollinated, with the desiccated flowers remaining for some weeks or months after flowering.
Ecology
It is a larval host plant to the elegant sphinx moth.
File:Salvia dorrii 8118.JPG, ''Salvia dorii'' var. ''pilosa'' in
Antelope Valley
The Antelope Valley is located in northern Los Angeles County, California, and the southeast portion of Kern County, California, and constitutes the western tip of the Mojave Desert. It is situated between the Tehachapi, Sierra Pelona, and the ...
, about
File:Salvia dorrii 4.jpg, ''Salvia dorii'' in
Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area
The Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area in Clark County, Nevada, is an area managed by the Bureau of Land Management as part of its National Landscape Conservation System, and protected as a National Conservation Area. It is about west o ...
File:purple_sage_Salvia_dorii_plant.jpg, ''Salvia dorii'' in dry mountain habitat, about
File:Salvia dorrii var clokeyi 10.jpg, ''Salvia dorii'' var. ''clokeyi'', about
Uses and toxicity
Some chemical components found in ''Salvia dorrii'' include salvidorol and two
epimer
In stereochemistry, an epimer is one of a pair of diastereomers. The two epimers have opposite configuration at only one stereogenic center out of at least two. All other stereogenic centers in the molecules are the same in each. Epimerization is ...
ic
abietane
Abietane is a diterpene that forms the structural basis for a variety of natural chemical compounds such as abietic acid, carnosic acid, and ferruginol which are collectively known as abietanes or abietane diterpenes.
Abietanes are found in the ...
diterpene
Diterpenes are a class of chemical compounds composed of four isoprene units, often with the molecular formula C20H32. They are biosynthesized by plants, animals and fungi via the HMG-CoA reductase pathway, with geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate being ...