''Salvia leucophylla'', the San Luis purple sage, purple sage, or gray sage, is an

aromatic In chemistry, aromaticity is a chemical property of cyclic ( ring-shaped), ''typically'' planar (flat) molecular structures with pi bonds in resonance (those containing delocalized electrons) that gives increased stability compared to satur ...

sage Sage or SAGE may refer to: Plants * ''Salvia officinalis'', common sage, a small evergreen subshrub used as a culinary herb ** Lamiaceae, a family of flowering plants commonly known as the mint or deadnettle or sage family ** ''Salvia'', a large ...

native to the southern coastal mountain ranges of

the Californias The Californias (Spanish: ''Las Californias''), occasionally known as The Three Californias or Two Californias, are a region of North America spanning the United States and Mexico, consisting of the U.S. state of California and the Mexican stat ...

Description

''S. leucophylla'' is an

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, which ...

shrub that grows up to tall and wide. The

leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

are a light green in the spring, turning grayish-white as they mature, with graceful branches that arch to the ground, sometimes rooting when they touch the ground. Flowers grow in tight whorls on long inflorescences, with a pinkish-purple flowering stem. The flowers are pinkish-purple, held in a purple-tinged gray calyx.

Taxonomy

The plant's

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

, ''leucophylla'', describes the light grayish leaves. The

type specimen In biology, a type is a particular wiktionary:en:specimen, specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to a ...

was collected near

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara ( es, Santa Bárbara, meaning "Saint Barbara") is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coas ...

, by Scottish botanist David Douglas and named by

Edward Lee Greene Edward Lee Greene (August 20, 1843–November 10, 1915) was an American botanist known for his numerous publications including the two-part ''Landmarks of Botanical History'' and the describing of over 4,400 species of plants in the American W ...

in 1892. The common names refer to the pale purple flowers (purple sage) or to the grayish leaves (gray sage).

Distribution and habitat

The plant is native to the southern coastal mountain ranges of

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

and

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

, typically being found on dry hillsides and in gravelly soils.

Cultivation

The species is widely used in California and xeriscape gardening, preferring full sun and good drainage. There are many

cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture, ...

s, natural hybrids, and wild hybrids with other ''Salvia'' species, making clear naming very confusing. Some cultivars include: *''Salvia leucophylla'' 'Pt. Sal' *''Salvia leucophylla'' 'Figueroa' *''Salvia leucophylla'' 'Bee's Bliss' ''Salvia leucophylla'' is known to have

allelopathic Allelopathy is a biological phenomenon by which an organism produces one or more biochemicals that influence the germination, growth, survival, and reproduction of other organisms. These biochemicals are known as allelochemicals and can have ben ...

qualities. It is thought that

monoterpenoids Monoterpenes are a class of terpenes that consist of two isoprene units and have the molecular formula C10H16. Monoterpenes may be linear (acyclic) or contain rings (monocyclic and bicyclic). Modified terpenes, such as those containing oxygen funct ...

released from the plant may be responsible for inhibiting the growth of neighboring seedlings.

References

External links

Jepson Flora Project: ''Salvia leucophylla''''Salvia leucophylla'' - Images @ CalPhoto archives
{{Taxonbar, from=Q891026 leucophylla Flora of California Flora of Baja California Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Natural history of the Santa Monica Mountains Natural history of the Transverse Ranges Natural history of the California Coast Ranges Natural history of the San Francisco Bay Area Plants described in 1892 Butterfly food plants Garden plants of North America Drought-tolerant plants Flora without expected TNC conservation status