Stats

Lifespan: Annual
Size: Small
Diet: Photosynthetic
Biome: Desert
Range: North America
Movement: Sessile
Breeding: Seeds
Defense: Toxins
Status: Common

About

Chia is a small annual wildflower native to California and the Southwest, producing whorls of tiny blue-purple blooms on prickly stems. Its dark seeds were a cornerstone food for Indigenous peoples, who ground them into pinole flour or stirred them into water to make a nourishing energy drink.

Life cycle

1.
seed
A dormant seed waits for water and warmth before germinating.
2.
sprout
A first shoot emerges with cotyledon leaves and a tap root reaching down.
3.
sapling
A young plant grows true leaves and a stem or trunk, putting on height each season.
4.
mature
Fully grown, flowering or fruiting at adult size.

Learn more

Taxonomy

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Lamiales
Family: Lamiaceae
Genus: Salvia
Species: Salvia columbariae