Kingdom Plantae Family Lamiaceae Scientific name Salvia funerea Rank Species | Order Lamiales Genus Salvia Higher classification Sage | |
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Similar Sage, Salvia carduacea, Salvia dolichantha, Salvia longistyla, Salvia mohavensis | ||
Salvia funerea (Death Valley sage, woolly sage, funeral sage) is an intricately branched shrub associated with limestone soils in the Mojave Desert. It has an overall white appearance due to wooly hairs that cover the stems and leaves.
Habitat and range
The plant can be found in dry washes and canyons in Inyo County, California, on the western slopes of the Funeral Mountains, Black Mountains, and Granite Mountains, in Titus Canyon in the Grapevine Mountains, and in the northern Panamint Mountains.
This shrub produces many branches coated in white woolly fibers and may exceed a meter in height. The leaves are tipped with spines.
2-lipped flowers occur in clusters of three in each leaf axil. The tubular purple or blue corollas are between one and two centimeters long and are surrounded by calyces of spine-tipped sepals. The flowers on 1"-3" spikes are partially hidden by tufts of wool.
The specific epithet, "funerea", relates to where the plant was first found, in the Funeral Mountains along the California-Nevada border. It is closely related to Salvia greatae.