Thistle Sage
Salvia carduacea
Height: Usually 1 to 2 feet tall
Habitat: Dry, open areas like desert washes, foothills, and sandy slopes
Elevation: Found up to around 4,000 feet
Range: Native to California and parts of the southwestern United States, especially in the Mojave Desert, coastal ranges, and lower Sierra Nevada
Description:
Thistle Sage is a striking wildflower with a bold appearance. It has deeply lobed, silvery-green leaves that look a bit like thistle leaves—spiny and woolly. The bright lavender to purplish-blue flowers grow in round, spiky clusters along the stem and have vivid orange or yellow anthers, giving them a colorful contrast that stands out in the desert.
Uses:
The plant has a strong, pleasant scent—typical of sages—and was sometimes used by Native peoples for its aroma or in teas, though it’s less common in traditional medicine than other sages. It’s also a valuable nectar source for native bees and hummingbirds.
Note:
Thistle Sage might look fierce with its spiny leaves, but it’s one of the showiest spring bloomers in the desert. It grows quickly after good rains and adds a splash of purple to the dry landscape.
Thistle Sage (Salvia carduacea) is a native annual herb in the Lamiaceae (Mint) family that grows in southern and central California, primarily in hot, dry inland areas.
It tends to grow in sandy or gravelly places, at elevations from 0-4500 feet.
It has a distinctive thistle appearance but is not related to true thistles. It is more closely related to Chia (S. columbariae).
It is almost always grown from seed and is sometimes included in desert seed mixes.
Calscape
https://calscape.org/loc-California/Salvia%20carduacea%20(Thistle%20Sage)