Carried by 16 nurseries
View Availability at NurseryData provided by the participants of the Consortium of California Herbaria
View additional distribution information on the Jepson eflora
Salvia pachyphylla (Blue sage, Mountain desert sage) is a perennial shrub native to California, Nevada, and Arizona. In California, it grows between 5,000 to 10,000 ft (1,500 to 3,000 m) elevation on dry rocky slopes, blooming from July to September. It reaches 1 to 2 ft (0. 30 to 0. 61 m) high, with blue-violet flowers, rarely rose, growing in dense clusters. In the course of a study of the chemical composition of the flora used in Latin American popular medicine, Ivan C. Guerrero and coworkers have performed phytochemical studies of extracts of the aerial parts from Salvia pachyphylla and Salvia clevelandii . S. pachyphylla is used by indigenous communities for its medicinal properties in the treatment of flu symptom. The major secondary metabolites isolated from these species and the cytotoxic effects against five human cancer cells were reported for eight of the compounds obtained: carnosol, rosmanol, 20-deoxocarnosol, carnosic acid, isorosmanol, 7-methoxyrosmanol, 5,6-didehydro-O-methylsugiol, 8ß-hydroxy-9(11),13-abietadien-12-one, 11,12-dioxoabieta-8,13-diene, and 11,12-dihydroxy-20-norabieta-5(10),8,11,13-tetraen-1-one and pachyphyllone.
Shrub
1 - 3 ft Tall
Blue, Purple
Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall
Full Sun, Partial Shade
Low
Moderate
Fast
Prefers sandy or gravelly soils.
For propagating by seed: No treatment.
Dry slopes
Pinyon-Juniper Woodland, Yellow Pine Forest
Butterflies and moths supported
1 confirmed and 7 likely
Volupial Pyrausta Moth
Pyrausta volupialis
Climbing Cutworm
Abagrotis orbis
Alfalfa Looper Moth
Autographa californica