Texas Gardening: Texas Native Plant Pictures by color ( Blue ), 1 by htop

htop wrote:
Texas Sage, Blue Sage (Salvia texana), Lamiaceae Family, native, perennial, blooms March through May or April through June depending upon in what region it is growing

Texas sage is called blue sage in most wildflower books. It can be found growing natively in dry, limestone soils in the Edwards Plateau, the South Texas Plains, Central and West Texas on hillsides, slopes, ledges and disturbed areas. It is an erect plant that grows from six to fifteen inches high and is often overlooked. The narrow, 2 inch long leaves are opposite or whorled below the the blooms. They may be slightly toothed on the upper two thirds of the leaf margins. The purple to dark blue flower is 3/4 to 1 inch long with a white throat and 2 stamen. Its stem has retrorse (directed back or downwards) long and short hairs on all 4 sides (need a hand lens to see) and the throat of the bloom calyx is very hairy. It has a taproot and forms a winter rosette. Texas sage resembles Engelmann's sage, but it has smaller, darker colored flowers and it also has a longer bloom period.

Distribution according to USDA:
http://plants.usda.gov/java/county?state_name=Texas&statefip...

Distribution according to TAMU:
http://www.csdl.tamu.edu/FLORA/cgi/vpt_map_name?reg=2,4,5,6,...)+Torr.

For more information, see its entry in the PlantFiles:
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/113584/index.html

A bloom showing its densely hairy calyx ... blooms may be dark blue, blue-violet or purple and may become somewhat lighter in color with age. This bloom is much darker than as captured by my camera.