WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

 

Branching square stems reach 18 inches tall topped with paired blue, tubular flowers. Note the whorls of flowers are widely separated on a leafless stem and have white spots, and the leaves have sawtooth margins.


FLOWER: August–September. Whorled clusters of paired flowers are widely separated nodes on the stem. Flowers blue-purple, tubular, 1/2-inch long (12 mm), mostly enclosed in the sepals (calyx) except for the 2 lips; lower lip has a white patch, 2 rounded lobes, droops downward, and is much longer than upper lip. The calyx that cups the tubular flower is covered with long, gland-tipped hairs.


LEAVES: Opposite. Blades oblong to lance-shaped, 3/4–5 5/8-inches long (2–6 cm); base tapering, tip pointed, margins lined with irregular deep teeth.


HABITAT: Dry sandy, rocky soils, meadows, drainages, roadsides, grasslands, open woodlands; desert scrub and grasslands, pinyon-juniper, ponderosa-oak woodlands.


ELEVATION: 4,225–8,150 feet.


RANGE: AZ, NM


SIMILAR SPECIES: Lanceleaf Sage, S. reflexa, in much the same range and habitat, has leaves with entire to shallowly toothed, margins, and flowers without white spots.


NM COUNTIES: Southern NM in low- to mid-elevation, dry habitats: Bernalillo, Catron, Cibola, Curry, Dona Ana, Eddy, Grant, Hidalgo, Lincoln, Los Alamos, Mora, Otero, San Miguel, Sandoval, Santa Fe, Sierra, Socorro, Torrance.

SAWTOOTH  SAGE

SALVIA  SUBINCISA

Mint Family, Lamiaceae

Annual herb

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The lower lip of the tubular flower droops, has  white spots, rounded lobes, and is much longer than the upper lip.

Leaf edges are lined with irregular teeth.

The calyx tube that cups the tubular flower is covered with gland-tipped hairs (arrow).

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