Black Sage
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| Salvia mellifera Greene |
Black Sage (Salvia mellifera) is a small, highly aromatic, evergreen shrub of the genus Salvia (the sages) native to California, USA and Baja California, Mexico. It is common in the coastal sage scrub of Southern California and northern Baja California. Black sage has a dark appearance, especially during drought.
[edit] Morphology
Black Sage is a perennial shrub that grows approximately 1-2 m tall. It is covered with simple hairs with some glandular hairs, which makes it highly aromatic. The leaves are oblong-elliptic to obovate in shape and are about 2.5–7 cm long. The upper surface of the leaf is somewhat glabrous, while the lower surface of the leaf is hairy.
The inflorescence occurs in 1.6–4 cm wide clusters. The flowers are usually a pale blue or lavender color, and rarely a pale rose color. The upper lip of the flower is 2-lobed. The style and stamens are slightly exserted. The fruit produced by the black sage is a schizocarp composed of four 2–3 mm brown nutlets.
[edit] Ecology
Black sage grows in the coastal sage scrub and lower chaparral plant communities. It occurs from 0–1200 meters elevation. It needs about 38 centimeters of rainfall. Black Sage is able to grow on a variety of different soils derived from sandstone, shale, granite, serpentinite, and gabbro or basalt. Black Sage is semi-deciduous, depending on the location and severity of drought, and shallow rooted. Black Sage is drought tolerant by leaf curling rather than drought avoiding through leaf drop.
