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What Plants Live in Coastal Sage?

Coastal sage scrub is a plant community that grows along the southern coast of California and Baja California. It grows best in a climate that provides cool, wet winters and hot, dry summers. Southern California rainfall averages from 10 to 20 inches a year, according to the National Park Service at Point Loma, California. Shrubs and perennial subshrubs that are adapted to both drought and fire predominantly make up coastal sage scrub. Coastal sage scrub once provided a solid cover on the land, but it is now compromised by urban growth and agricultural activities.

White Sage
- Salvia apiana, or white sage, belongs to the mint family known as Lamiaceae. A large perennial with hairy white aromatic leaves, it blooms between April and June when three-foot spikes of white flowers top the two to three foot tall stems. The plant's flowers attract all sorts of bees that help pollinate other plants in the area. It grows actively during the winter and goes dormant in the summer. The leaves were used by Cahuilla and other southwestern Native Americans to make smudge bundles, which were burned at ceremonial or cleansing occasions, a custom now widely adopted by practitioners of New Age spirituality, sometimes to the detriment of the remaining plant population. White sage is not easy to grow outside its native habitat, so wild populations are harvested for leaves.
Black Sage
- Salvia mellifera, or black sage, is another bushy perennial member of the mint family. It has aromatic dark green leaves with white or lavender flowers and can grow to 7 feet tall. This plant's range extends beyond coastal sage scrub northward along the California coast to the San Francisco area. Leaves of the black sage curl under during summer dormancy, reducing water loss in hot weather.
California Sagebrush
- Artemisia californica, or California Sagebrush, part of the daisy family known as Asteraceae, is a dominant shrub in coastal sage scrub. Bushes grow from 3 to 5 feet tall. Leaves are gray-green and finely divided with a sharp fragrance. Flowers are small, yellow to red, and bloom at the ends of branches. Seeds need light and charate, a substance from burned plants, to sprout. Burned-over plants resprout from the crown. California sagebrush was an important medicinal plant for Coahuilla and Chumash Native Americans.
Sugar Sumac or Sugar Bush
- Thick leathery evergreen leaves cloak Rhus ovata, more commonly known as sugar sumac or sugar brush. Its waxy cuticles help prevent water loss. Rounded bushes can grow to 10 feet tall, and its pink to white flowers bloom in the spring. Seed germination is induced by the high temperatures that occur during a fire.
California Buckwheat
- A low shrub, California buckwheat grows to 1 to 2 feet tall and is a common part of coastal sage scrub. Small, medium green leaves are held close to the branches. Clusters of pink to white flowers grow on stalks above the foliage in the spring. California buckwheat attracts a lot of bees and butterflies which help pollinate the other plants in the area. Dry flowers persist during the summer, but turn an orange or rusty color.

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