General: Purple Sage (Salvia dorrii) is a rounded shrub that has short, smooth, folded leaves and tubular purple flowers that emerge from balls of reddish bracts. Although the name is "sage," this plant is related to mints, not sagebrush.

The tubular flowers are asymmetrical with one upper corolla lobe and three lower lobes. The middle-lower-corolla-lobe is as wide as the length of the lobe, or wider.

Purple Sage is a fairly common component of vegetation communities in dry, well-drained gravelly areas on bajadas into the lower mountains in the Upper Sonoran (Mojave Desert Scrub) life zone.

Around Las Vegas, look for Purple Sage throughout the region, including Red Rock Canyon NCA, the Desert National Wildlife Range, the Gold Butte Region, Lake Mead NRA, and Mojave National Preserve.

Family: Mint (Lamiaceae)

Other Names: Desert Sage