Black Sage
Encyclopedia
Salvia mellifera is a small, highly aromatic, evergreen
shrub of the genus Salvia
(the sages) native to California, 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.
shrub that grows approximately 1-2 m (3-6 ft) 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 (1-2.8 in) 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 (0.6-1.6 in) -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 stamen
s are slightly exserted. The fruit produced by the black sage is a schizocarp
composed of four 2–3 mm (0.08-0.12 in) brown nutlet
s.
and lower chaparral
plant communities. It occurs from sea level to 1200 m (3900 ft) elevation. It needs about 38 cm (15 in) of rainfall. Black sage is able to grow on a variety of different soils, including sandstone
, shale
, granite
, serpentinite
, and gabbro
or basalt
. It is semi-deciduous
, depending on the location and severity of drought, shallow rooted, and drought tolerant by leaf curling rather than drought-avoiding through leaf drop.
This hardy sage hybridizes easily with other common, coastal scrub Salvias such as Salvia apiana (white sage), and Salvia leucophylla
, both of which, unlike the black sage, have whitish tomentose
or appressed hairs.
Evergreen
In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant that has leaves in all seasons. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage during the winter or dry season.There are many different kinds of evergreen plants, both trees and shrubs...
shrub of the genus Salvia
Salvia
Salvia is the largest genus of plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae, with approximately 700-900 species of shrubs, herbaceous perennials, and annuals. It is one of several genera commonly referred to as sage. When used without modifiers, sage generally refers to Salvia officinalis ; however, it is...
(the sages) native to California, and Baja California, Mexico. It is common in the coastal sage scrub
Coastal sage scrub
Coastal sage scrub is a low scrubland plant community found in the California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion of coastal California and northern Baja California. It is characterized by low-growing aromatic, and drought-deciduous shrubs adapted to the semi-arid Mediterranean climate of the...
of Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
and northern Baja California. Black sage has a dark appearance, especially during drought.
Description
Black sage is a perennialPerennial plant
A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. The term is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter lived annuals and biennials. The term is sometimes misused by commercial gardeners or horticulturalists to describe only herbaceous perennials...
shrub that grows approximately 1-2 m (3-6 ft) 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 (1-2.8 in) long. The upper surface of the leaf is somewhat glabrous, while the lower surface of the leaf is hairy.
The inflorescence
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. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...
occurs in 1.6–4 cm (0.6-1.6 in) -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 stamen
Stamen
The stamen is the pollen producing reproductive organ of a flower...
s are slightly exserted. The fruit produced by the black sage is a schizocarp
Schizocarp
A schizocarp is a dry fruit that develops from multiple carpels. When mature it splits up into mericarps. Mericarps are often 1-seeded as in, for example, Malva, Malvastrum, and Sida...
composed of four 2–3 mm (0.08-0.12 in) brown nutlet
Nutlet
Nutlet may refer to one of the following.*A small nut.*In botany, a nutlet is a pyrena or pyrene, which is a seed covered by a stony layer, such as the kernel of a drupe....
s.
Ecology
Black sage grows in the coastal sage scrubCoastal sage scrub
Coastal sage scrub is a low scrubland plant community found in the California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion of coastal California and northern Baja California. It is characterized by low-growing aromatic, and drought-deciduous shrubs adapted to the semi-arid Mediterranean climate of the...
and lower chaparral
Chaparral
Chaparral is a shrubland or heathland plant community found primarily in the U.S. state of California and in the northern portion of the Baja California peninsula, Mexico...
plant communities. It occurs from sea level to 1200 m (3900 ft) elevation. It needs about 38 cm (15 in) of rainfall. Black sage is able to grow on a variety of different soils, including sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
, shale
Shale
Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock composed of mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite. The ratio of clay to other minerals is variable. Shale is characterized by breaks along thin laminae or parallel layering...
, granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
, serpentinite
Serpentinite
Serpentinite is a rock composed of one or more serpentine group minerals. Minerals in this group are formed by serpentinization, a hydration and metamorphic transformation of ultramafic rock from the Earth's mantle...
, and gabbro
Gabbro
Gabbro refers to a large group of dark, coarse-grained, intrusive mafic igneous rocks chemically equivalent to basalt. The rocks are plutonic, formed when molten magma is trapped beneath the Earth's surface and cools into a crystalline mass....
or basalt
Basalt
Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...
. It is semi-deciduous
Deciduous
Deciduous means "falling off at maturity" or "tending to fall off", and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally, and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe...
, depending on the location and severity of drought, shallow rooted, and drought tolerant by leaf curling rather than drought-avoiding through leaf drop.
This hardy sage hybridizes easily with other common, coastal scrub Salvias such as Salvia apiana (white sage), and Salvia leucophylla
Salvia leucophylla
Salvia leucophylla is an aromatic sage native to the southern coastal mountain ranges of California and Baja California.-Taxonomy:The plant's specific epithet, leucophylla, describes the light grayish leaves...
, both of which, unlike the black sage, have whitish tomentose
Tomentose
Tomentose is a term used to describe plant hairs that are flattened and matted, forming a woolly coating known as tomentum. Often the hairs are silver or gray-colored...
or appressed hairs.