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Salvia mellifera
Also called Californian Black Sage
Black sage is a small, evergreen, highly aromatic shrub native to coastal California and northern Baja California, growing 1 to 2 m tall. It thrives in full sun and dry, well-drained soil, and it is drought tolerant once established.
Salvia mellifera (Californian black sage, also known as seel by the Mahuna) 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 resinous appearance and releases a strong herbal scent when it is touched. This is especially apparent in dry seasons.
Californian black sage grows in the coastal sage scrub and lower chaparral plant communities. It occurs from sea level to 1,200 m (3,900 ft) elevation. 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.
Egyptian Sage · Mediterranean sage · White sage · Brown Sage · Santa Rosa Island sage · Buchanan's Sage · Guatemalan Leaf Sage · Candelabra Sage · Cayman sage · Fragrant sage · Blood sage · Chia
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Salvia mellifera by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
