Salvia pachyphylla


Salvia pachyphylla is a perennial shrub native to California, Nevada, and Arizona. In California, it grows between elevation on dry rocky slopes, blooming from July to September. It reaches high, with blue-violet flowers, rarely rose, growing in dense clusters.

In the course of a study of the chemical composition of the flora used in Latin American popular medicine, Ivan C. Guerrero and coworkers have performed phytochemical studies of extracts of the aerial parts from Salvia pachyphylla and Salvia clevelandii . S. pachyphylla is used by indigenous communities for its medicinal properties in the treatment of flu symptom. The major secondary metabolites isolated from these species and the cytotoxic effects against five human cancer cells were reported for eight of the compounds obtained: carnosol, rosmanol, 20-deoxocarnosol, carnosic acid, isorosmanol, 7-methoxyrosmanol, 5,6-didehydro-O-methylsugiol, 8β-hydroxy-9,13-abietadien-12-one, 11,12-dioxoabieta-8,13-diene, and 11,12-dihydroxy-20-norabieta-5,8,11,13-tetraen-1-one and pachyphyllone.