Plant Guide - Purple Sage Salvia Dorrii (Kellogg) Abrams - U.s. Department Of Acriculture

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Plant Guide
leaves to apply to the chest, smoked dried leaves and
PURPLE SAGE
made steam baths with the leaves to ease congestion.
Infusions, decoctions, washes and poultices of this
Salvia dorrii (Kellogg) Abrams
plant were also used to treat headaches,
Plant Symbol = SADO4
stomachaches, fever, influenza, pneumonia,
gonorrhea, swollen leg veins, eye problems and
Contributed by: NRCS Plant Materials Center,
general illness (Native American Ethnobotany
Pullman, WA
Database 2010). The Hopi used smoke and an
infusion of the plant to alleviate epilepsy and
faintness and the Kawaiisu threw the plant into fire to
keep away spirits and ghosts (Native American
Ethnobotany Database 2010). The Hopi, Kumiai,
and Paipai also used the plant to treat stomachaches,
headaches and other medical conditions (Huisinga
2001).
Status
Salvia dorrii ssp. mearnsii is listed by the United
States Forest Service as a sensitive species in Arizona
due to its limited distribution and threats to its
survival (Huisinga 2001). Consult the PLANTS Web
site and your State Department of Natural Resources
for this plant’s current status (e.g., threatened or
endangered species, state noxious status, and wetland
Salvia dorrii. Pamela Pavek, Pullman Plant Materials
Center
indicator values).
Alternate Names
Dorr sage, Grayball sage, desert sage, tobacco sage
Uses
Ornamental: Purple sage is an attractive, low-
maintenance, drought-tolerant shrub that can be used
as an accent plant or small hedge in landscaped areas
(Mee et al. 2003). It will maintain its rounded shape
without pruning (Mee et al. 2003) and is resistant to
browsing by deer and rabbits (High Country Gardens
2010).
Pollinators: Purple sage provides nectar and pollen
for bees, butterflies and moths.
Salvia dorrii flowers. Pamela Pavek, Pullman Plant
Materials Center
Range revegetation: This plant can be used for
revegetation and diversification of rangeland,
Description
particularly in harsh, rocky sites.
General: Mint family (Lamiaceae). Salvia dorrii is a
woody perennial shrub that grows to 20 to 80 cm (8
Forage: Purple sage is undesirable as forage to both
to 32 in) tall and 20 to 150 cm (24 to 36 in) wide. It
livestock and wildlife.
has an upright to spreading form, with the exception
of S. dorrii ssp. dorrii var. clokeyi which forms mats
Ethnobotanical: This plant was used for multiple
and occasionally roots at the nodes (Strachan 1982).
medicinal and cultural purposes by tribes throughout
The plant has rough bark that peels off the mature
its range. People of the Kawasiiu, Paiute, Shoshoni,
woody branches. Leaves are opposite, oval, 1.5 to 4
Washoe and Okanagan-Colville tribes made infusions
cm (0.6 to 1.6 in) long, 0.5 to 1.5 cm (0.2 to 0.6 in)
and decoctions of the leaves and stems of purple sage
wide, are widest at the tip and taper to the stem.
for a cold remedy. They also made poultices of the
Leaves have a smooth margin, are silver-gray,

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