Black Sage: A Grocery Store and Apartments

Here is a Black Sage plant. Why is this California native plant important?
Like many plants, it provides food and shelter for several animals. Would it surprise you if I told you that I have seen ten animals in or on this plant? Guess what some of them might have been. There is one animal in this picture. Yes, it is the honey bee sitting on the purple flower. Honey bees, hummingbirds, big black bumble bees, and butterflies all get nectar from this plant. My camera could not capture the image, but there is a spider and web inside the plant below the honey bee. I don’t mind spiders because they catch annoying bugs like mosquitoes and flies. I see flies around this plant during the day sometimes and mosquitoes around it at night. Remember the Western Fence Lizard? Well, I have seen a lizard scurrying around under the sage, trying to catch a bug to eat. Those purple flowers turn into seeds after the honey bee pollinates them. The Gabrielino and Juaneno people would roast these seeds and grind them into flour. Who else would like these seeds? I have seen little yellow and gray birds hopping around inside the plant and pecking at the dirt. Called Bushtits or Bushies, these tiny birds eat fallen seeds on the ground. The sage keeps the Bushies hidden from predators. And finally, I have seen my big, fat cat taking naps in the shade under this plant. So this busy plant is like a small grocery store with apartments. What other animals might have stopped by that I have not seen? An opossum? A mouse? A beetle?

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