It may come as something of a surprise to “greenhorns from Back East,” but sagebrush, the
Nevada state flower, does a lot more than pepper the deserts and rangelands of the
Western States with low, woody shrubs.
For one thing, its flowers bring welcome color to the region, especially the central basin
of Nevada, from late summer into the fall. It’s an important source of winter food for
sheep and cattle since it keeps its leaves all year round, and native tribes used its
aromatic leaves as medicine and wove its bark into mats.
Growing in areas where other plants cannot, the Nevada state flower can go as tall as 12
feet high, with its silvery gray to brown bark crowded with gray leaves and flowers in
muted yellow. It can even be found within the city limits of Las Vegas and other Nevada
cities where it will grow to its more common height of 3 to 6 feet tall.
So abundant is sagebrush in some areas of Nevada that it actually slowed down the
famous cattle drives of the Old West as herds had to pick their way through the densely
growing brush. And it’s largely responsible for the adoption of chaps as daily working
wear by cowboys to protect their legs as they also picked their way through.
Do not get sagebrush confused with the common sage that you’ll find on your spice shelf.
While the Nevada state flower has a strong fragrance, its taste is bitter and unpleasant.
That’s probably why animals let it be until winter when other pickings are slim.
Fortunately for the pronghorn antelope, who rely greatly on sagebrush, it is a quite
nutritious plant. Only cattle require other additional feed during the winter.
Also known as Big Sagebrush, Common Sagebrush, Blue Sagebrush or Black Sagebrush,
it’s well-adapted to desert life, with fine silvery hairs on the leaves to keep it cool.
But it’s the way the yellow sagebrush flowers light up vast reaches of Nevada that
inspired the state to adopt it as the Nevada state flower. The only things brighter than
sagebrush flowers in Nevada are the snow in the High Sierras and the lights of Las Vegas.
Send Flowers to Las Vegas
Nevada State Flower Sources:
http://www.nv.gov/new_KidsHomework_StateSymbols.pdf
http://www.owensvalleyhistory.com/wildflowers1/page36.html
http://www.netstate.com/states/intro/nv_intro.htm