Endemic – restricted to one area. A species that is endemic to a place (Death Valley, for example) will be found nowhere else.

On my last morning in Death Valley I decided to re-visit a few highlights. I went to see the globemallow again, and to see if the nearby beavertail cactus buds had opened yet. Nope. But before that, I visited a particular trail that had a good number of gulches with a good variety of flowering plant species. I was on my way back to the car when I caught sight of this.

Death Valley sage, Salvia funerea, Lamiaceae

Death Valley sage is of course endemic to Death Valley.  It’s a shrub that can grow to about 4 feet tall, but usually is shorter. This specimen was a little more than knee-high. The pale-green foliage looks silvery from the short white hairs all over it (hence another common name, woolly sage).

I’d seen a few of these over several days, but this was the only one flowering. Those purple flowers are slightly smaller than a pinky-nail.