Salvia dorrii is a herbaceous perennial in the family Lamiaceae

Lamiaceae

The mints, taxonomically known as Lamiaceae or Labiatae, are a family of flowering plants. They have traditionally been considered closely related to Verbenaceae, but in the 1990s, phylogenetic studies suggested that many genera classified in Verbenaceae belong instead in Lamiaceae...

. It is native to mountain areas in the western United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and northwestern Arizona

Arizona

Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

, found mainly in the Great Basin

Great Basin

The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic watersheds in North America and is noted for its arid conditions and Basin and Range topography that varies from the North American low point at Badwater Basin to the highest point of the contiguous United States, less than away at the...

 Range habitat and southward to the Mojave Desert

Mojave Desert

The Mojave Desert occupies a significant portion of southeastern California and smaller parts of central California, southern Nevada, southwestern Utah and northwestern Arizona, in the United States...

, growing in dry, well draining soils. Some large native populations of this species also are found in the Aquarius Plateau

Aquarius Plateau

The Aquarius Plateau is a physiographic region within Garfield and Wayne counties in south-central Utah. The plateau, an uplift on the much larger Colorado Plateau, is the highest in North America...

 region of Southern Utah

Utah

Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...

.

Description

Salvia dorrii is a woody subshrub reaching 1-3 feet in height and width. The grey-green leaves are narrow and lanceolate, are tapered at the base and rounded at the tip, and have a smooth and round margin. They are generally basal, and about 1-3 cm long. They have an intense but pleasant, mildly intoxicating minty aroma, with the scent released when the foliage is handled or crushed. The inflorescence

Inflorescence

An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...

 is made up of spike-like clusters of numerous purple flowers that are bilateral. The flowers remain on the plants after being pollinated, with the desiccated flowers remaining for some weeks or months after flowering. The inflorescences have a strong resemblance to miniature purple-colored Pussy willow

Pussy Willow

Pussy willow is a name given to many of the smaller species of the genus Salix when their furry catkins are young in early spring...

s.

Individual tobacco sage plants form large, heavily branched hemispherical mounds 3-4 feet across in sand drainage flats along Hole in the Rock Road

Hole in the Rock Road

The Hole in the Rock Trail is a historic road running west of the Escalante River in southern Utah in the western United States. Running almost from near Escalante to Bluff, it travels within the borders of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and the adjacent Glen Canyon National...

 southeast of Escalante, Utah.

Ecology and reproduction

Salvia dorrii is an uncommon and locally rare plant with isolated populations throughout its range and requires well drained and dry soil, full sun, little water, and high summer temperatures. In Utah, it only occurs in restricted and isolated populations in steep canyons and arroyos near Moab, Utah

Moab, Utah

Moab is a city in Grand County, in eastern Utah, in the western United States. The population was 4,779 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat and largest city in Grand County. Moab hosts a large number of tourists every year, mostly visitors to the nearby Arches and Canyonlands National Parks...

 and Escalante, Utah

Escalante, Utah

Escalante is a city in Garfield County, Utah, United States, along Utah Scenic Byway 12. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 818.The town was named after Silvestre Vélez de Escalante, a Franciscan missionary and the first European explorer in the region...

. It is considerably more common in Southern Utah and Northern Arizona. They occur on dry slopes in areas with sandy soils in drainage washes and banks of arroyos throughout the Mountain West which experience intermitment and very infrequent water throughout the growing season.

Uses and toxicity

Some chemical components found in Salvia dorrii include salvidorol and two epimer

Epimer

In chemistry, epimers are diastereomers that differ in configuration of only one stereogenic center. Diastereomers are a class of stereoisomers that are non-superposable, non-mirror images of one another....

ic abietane

Abietane

Abietane is a diterpene that forms the structural basis for a variety of natural chemical compounds such as abietic acid, carnosic acid, and ferruginol which are collectively known as abietanes or abietane diterpenes....

 diterpene

Diterpene

Diterpenes are a type of terpenes composed of four isoprene units. They derive from geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate. Diterpenes form the basis for biologically important compounds such as retinol, retinal, and phytol...

s.