Sunday, April 17, 2011


At first I thought this might be a chia (S. columbariae), but the flowers and leaves totally don't match. The leaves remind me of the garden sage (S. officinalis) I get from the farmers' market to make crispy sage in browned butter. Yum! Other than that, I can't seem to find a match for this pretty little plant. I thought this would be easy to ID. Nope. Can you ID?

ps 05/01/11 - I originally posted this as an unknown sage in a fit of fever and lack of energy. Just a few hours after posting the above on 04/27/11, I ended up in the emergency room and spent a few days in the hospital. I'm finally home and free to go to the bathroom without having to disconnect from wires and tubes and haul around an IV stand. As a parting gift, the nice doctors gave me a colorful cocktail of more pills than I've ever taken in my life. While I try to minimize mentions of my personal troubles on Nature ID, I am issuing a disclaimer: I may start posting some wonky/excessive blog entries in the next week as I stay home to recover while high on these meds. Please ignore or have a good laugh. Thanks to commenters and Brian LeNeve from the Monterey Bay Chapter of the CNPS for providing me with the name of this plant, so named for the way it spreads along the ground. As usual, I've corrected the ID's above with embedded links for anyone who would like to see and read more information.

6 comments:

Allison said...

I cannot ID, but I can admire!

DavidDavid said...

Salvia sonomensis Sonoma Sage, I think!

(without the clues, I was lost...)

DavidDavid

ryan said...

I think Salvia sonomensis is right. There are a few hybrids and varieties that look pretty similar, and I think they are all at least partly descended from S. sonomensis.

phyte club katie said...

Not sure, but speaking of Chia...There's a lot out at Pinnacles right now. There was this one beautiful spot with the dark periwinkle chia flowers against a rock covered in smatterings of bright orange lichen. Possibly the best color combo. Anyhow, if you have time this spring you should try to traverse the hills and get there, it's definitely worth it!

Katie (Nature ID) said...

Ding, ding, ding... David and Ryan provided the correct ID. I would have been a bit more thorough in searching for this ID, but I explained why in a postscript above.

Allison, the flowers are quite elaborate and beautiful up close.

Katie, every time I hear the word "chia" I think of that cheesy Christmas grow kit from the local drugstore that they advertise on tv: Chi Chi Chia! Once I feel better, we hope to make another trip to Pinnacles this month before it gets too hot.

Nature-Drunk said...

Yes, this sage grows in blankets at the feet of Manzanita in my neck of the woods. It is beautiful! I will see if I can get some photos to you.

BTW, I do have new Fremontia californica photos. I will try to post this week for Wordless Wednesday. Let me know if you want a copy for your collection.