Big red sage facts for kids

Salvia pentstemonoides is a special plant known as Big Red Sage. It's a type of plant that lives for many years, growing back each spring. This plant is very rare and only found in a few places in Texas, like the Edwards Plateau. Sadly, it's an endangered species. This means there aren't many left in the wild.

Big Red Sage is endangered because its natural home is being destroyed. Also, deer like to eat it, which makes it harder for the plant to survive. A very bad drought in Texas during the 1950s might have also hurt the plant's numbers.

People thought Big Red Sage had completely disappeared around 1946. But then, in 1980, a botanist named Marshall Enquist rediscovered it! He was taking pictures for his book, Wildflowers of the Texas Hill Country. At first, he didn't even know he had photographed a plant thought to be extinct. He identified it from a guide book that didn't say it was gone.

His book was published in 1987 without Big Red Sage. But Enquist started thinking about a second edition. While asking about the plant, he was very surprised to learn it had been considered extinct for years! In 1988, he received a special award for finding Salvia pentstemonoides again.

History of Big Red Sage

Who Discovered and Named It?

The first time anyone wrote about Big Red Sage was in 1845. A botanist named Ferdinand Lindheimer collected a sample. He sent it to another botanist, George Engelmann. Engelmann then sent it to Carl Sigismund Kunth and Peter Karl Bouché in Germany. They were the first to officially describe and name the plant in 1848.

The plant was also seen growing near Salado Creek in San Antonio in 1849. The scientific name pentstemonoides is often spelled wrong. It was named after an old spelling of another plant, Penstemon. That old spelling had an extra "t". Since it was first named "pentstemonoides", that spelling is the correct one. The name means the plant looks like a penstemon.

What Does Big Red Sage Look Like?

Where Does It Grow?

Salvia pentstemonoides usually grows on limestone rocks. You can find it near wet spots or creeks. It can grow quite tall, up to 5 feet! It has square stems. It also has long leaves at its base and other leaves growing opposite each other on the stem.

Plant Features

The leaves are a green color, like mistletoe. They are shaped like a spear and grow in a circle at the base of the plant. Many flower stalks grow up from this circle of leaves. The flower parts are 8–12 inches long. They have groups of flowers packed loosely together.

The flowers are about 1 inch long and are a deep beetroot-purple color. The cup-like part that holds the flower is about half an inch long and is the color of red wine. These flowers are safe to eat! If you brush or rub the leaves, they give off a fresh lemon-lime scent.

Growing Big Red Sage at Home

If you want to grow Salvia pentstemonoides, it likes soil that drains water quickly. Adding limestone or crushed oyster shells helps. It prefers morning sun with some shade later in the day. But it can also grow well in full sun if the air is humid.

It's best to water it deeply once a week. This plant can handle cold temperatures down to about -6 degrees Celsius (20 degrees Fahrenheit). It's easy to grow new plants from its seeds. You can also try to grow it from cuttings. Or, you can carefully divide larger clumps of the plant. Hummingbirds really love this plant!