Chia
Salvia columbariae
California's native chia, an annual sage with spiny-bracted blue flower balls stacked along the stem. Its nutritious seeds were a vital Indigenous food and reseed readily.
- Family
- Lamiaceae
- Type
- wildflower
- Lifespan
- annual
- Height
- 0.5–2 ft
- Spacing
- 0.5–1 ft apart
- Light
- sun
- Soil moisture
- dry
- Soil pH
- neutral, alkaline
- Bloom
- March, April, May, June
- Bloom colors
- blue
- Wildlife value
- songbirds, butterflies, hummingbirds, pollinators
- Landscape uses
- border, container
- Native states
- AZ, CA, NM, NV, UT
Related native plants
More Salvia species
- Lyre-leaf Sage (Salvia lyrata)
- Black Sage (Salvia mellifera)
- White Sage (Salvia apiana)
- Scarlet Sage (Salvia coccinea)
- Azure Blue Sage (Salvia azurea)
- Hummingbird Sage (Salvia spathacea)