Salvia Hispanica
Chia (Salvia hispanica) is a member of the Lamiaceae, or mint, family. Adding chia to your plantings provides a valuable nectar source for bees and butterflies. These herbaceous hardy annuals grow to 3 feet tall (91 cm.). They have thick, dark-green leaves that are wrinkled and deeply lobed. Tiny, soft, gray hairs cover the upper side of the leaves as well. The chia plant has several stems rising from the plant’s base. In the late spring and early summer, each stem holds up spikes of small blue, tube-shaped flowers. The blooms have three lobes on one lip, with a white tip on the lower lip. Burgundy, spiny-tipped bracts surround the flower whorls, and each set of flowers produces a seed head of tiny gray or brown seeds. The seed heads look a lot like those of wheat plants.
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