Salvia subincisa – Sawtooth Sage

Salvia subincisa - Sawtooth Sage, Saw-tooth Sage (flower)

Salvia subincisa - Sawtooth Sage, Saw-tooth Sage (flower and a fruiting calyx)

Salvia subincisa - Sawtooth Sage, Saw-tooth Sage

Salvia subincisa - Sawtooth Sage, Saw-tooth Sage

Plant Name

Scientific Name: Salvia subincisa

Common Names: Sawtooth Sage, Saw-tooth Sage

Plant Characteristics

Duration: Annual

Growth Habit: Herb/Forb

Arizona Native Status: Native

Habitat: Upland

Flower Color: Indigo blue

Flowering Season: Summer, Early fall. This wildflower blooms after the summer monsoon rains have begun.

Height: Up to 20 inches (50 cm) tall

Description: The flowers are in a raceme and are either solitary or in whorls of 2 or 3 around the stems. The small individual flowers are tubular and have a small upper lip and a much larger lower lip with paired white blotches below the mouth and 2 large, flared, rounded lobes at the tip. The flowers are each followed by a ribbed, bilobed, glandular-hairy, green to dark purple fruiting calyx that dries to brown and contains tan-colored nutlets. The leaves are green, saw-toothed, minutely glandular-hairy, and oblong or narrowly lance-shaped with a pointed tip. The stems are upright, glandular hairy, green to dark purple in color, and square in cross section. The plants are slender and easily overlooked unless blooming.

Special Characteristics

Foul-smelling – The crushed foliage has a skunky smell.

Classification

Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Asteridae
Order: Lamiales
Family: Lamiaceae – Mint family
Genus: Salvia L. – sage
Species: Salvia subincisa Benth. – sawtooth sage

More About This Plant

Arizona County Distribution Map