Salvia azurea

Blue sage is a perennial plant with stems that reach when fully grown. Plants may have one stem or several which grow from a thick caudex. The leaves are connected to their stems by petioles to long narrow, pointed, smooth-edged to serrated, furry to smooth. There are no basal leaves. The blue flowers (rarely white), nearly long, appear summer to autumn near the ends of their branched or unbranched spikes; their calyxes are tubular or bell-shaped and furry. Two varieties are known, Salvia azurea var. azurea (azure sage) and Salvia azurea var. grandiflora (Pitcher sage). When grown in cultivation, the stems of S. azurea are sometimes cut back early in the growing season to encourage branching and slow the vertical growth of the plant to prevent lodging. ==Taxonomy==

Salvia azurea was scientifically described by Martin Vahl in 1804, but attributed its description to André Michaux. It is classified in the Salvia genus in the family Lamiaceae. According to Plants of the World Online and World Flora Online it has no valid varieties or subspecies. However, World Plants lists Salvia azurea var. grandiflora as valid as does the Natural Resources Conservation Service database. Names Salvia azurea is known by the common name blue sage. It is also sometimes known as prairie sage. ==Distribution and habitat==

Blue sage is native to the United States, but its natural range is disputed with different scholarly sources reporting different areas where it has been introduced in the US. ==References==