Salvia dorrii (Kellogg) Abrams
Desert sage, tobacco sage, door’s sage, purple sage
Desert sage is native to the western United States. The title of Zane Grey’s 1912 western novel Riders of the Purple Sage refers to this species, not sagebrush.
Plants: An upright or spreading, rough-barked woody shrub 8–31″ tall ⨉ 8–20″ around (20–80 ⨉ 20–50 cm).
Leaves: opposite, oval or spoon-shaped, ½–1½ ⨉ ⅛–½″ (1.5–4 cm ⨉ 5–15 mm). They are widest at the tips, and silver-gray or gray-green in color, due to the presence of fine hairs. Leaves usually have wavy edges, and emit a strong minty odor when crushed.
Flowers: Pale blue to purple, rarely rose-colored. Flowers form showy clusters. Each flower is ⅜–½″ (1–1.3 cm) long, with two upper lips and a three-lobed bottom lip. Flowers appear May through July.
Fruits: Each flower produces four thick-walled gray to red-brown seeds (achenes). Each seed is 1/16–⅛″ (1.8–3.5 mm) long.
Habitats: Sandy, rocky, or limestone soils on open, dry slopes, flats and foothills, at elevations of 2500–8800′ (762–2682 m).
Online References:
The USDA Plants Database (PDF)
5/2/2018 · Cottonwood Spring, Joshua Tree National Park, California · ≈ 1½ × 1′ (46 × 34 cm) 
ID is uncertain 
4/30/2018 · Kelbaker Road, Mojave National Preserve, California · ≈ 1¾ × 1¾″ (4.5 × 4.9 cm) 
5/3/2018 · Park Blvd., Joshua Tree National Park · ≈ 1½ × 1′ (45 × 33 cm) 
4/30/2018 · Kelbaker Road, Mojave National Preserve, California · ≈ 3 × 2″ (7.9 × 5.8 cm) 
4/30/2018 · Kelbaker Road, Mojave National Preserve, California · ≈ 7 × 5″ (17 × 13 cm) 
5/3/2018 · Park Blvd., Joshua Tree National Park · ≈ 4½ × 4″ (11 × 9.9 cm) 
8/9/2011 · By Jacquelyn Boyt 
4/30/2018 · Kelbaker Road, Mojave National Preserve, California · ≈ 6 × 4″ (15 × 11 cm) 
5/3/2018 · Park Blvd., Joshua Tree National Park · ≈ 4 × 6″ (11 × 16 cm) 
5/1/2018 · Joshua Tree National Park Visitor Center, Twentynine Palms, California ID is uncertain 
5/3/2018 · Park Blvd., Joshua Tree National Park · ≈ 1½ × 1′ (46 × 31 cm) 
4/30/2018 · Kelbaker Road, Mojave National Preserve, California · ≈ 5 × 3½″ (13 × 9.1 cm) 
5/3/2018 · Park Blvd., Joshua Tree National Park · ≈ 1½ × 1′ (47 × 31 cm) 
| Kingdom | Plantae | Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae (from Stearn's Botanical Latin) |
| Subkingdom | Tracheobionta | Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients |
| Division | Magnoliophyta | Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms |
| Class | Magnoliopsida | Dicotyledons—plants with two initial seed leaves |
| Subclass | Asteridae | A large class that encompasses asters |
| Order | Lamiales | Aromatic herbs and shrubs, including lavender, lilac, olive, jasmine, ash, teak, snapdragon, sesame, psyllium, garden sage, mint, basil, and rosemary |
| Family | Lamiaceae | Mint family |
| Genus | Salvia | From the Latin salveo, “I am well,” referring to the medicinal properties of some members of this genus |
| Species | dorrii | After Clarendon Herbert Dorr (1816-1887), poet, inventor, and son of the captain of the first American ship to anchor in a California port. Dorr purportedly made collections of this plant near Virginia City, Nevada in the mid 1800s. |
Salvia dorrii description by Thomas H. Kent, not updated.
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