"Fieldnotes," January 19th & 20th, 2014: "Big Sagebrush," by Katie McKalip. http://www.montananaturalist.org/
"When I'm out driving Montana's highways or tramping around the backcountry, my eyes tend to slide right past the sage - maybe because it seems to be everywhere. Yet its characteristic scrubby sprawl captures some essence of the American West - and not just for me: Nevada claims it as its state flower, and Zane Grey, in his classic cowboy novel, Riders of the Purple Sage, refers to it as "that wild and purple wilderness." It elicits a response that's more emotional than scientific."