Salvia apiana var. compacta

Compact white sage is about half the size of the regular white sage, but the leaves are the same. The flowers are on a slender spike with very quaint clean flowers that are perfectly sized for bumble bees to crawl into. Quail and other native birds like the seeds..

The compact white sage grows in slightly more edgy spots, not really in chaparral but more of the desert edges at 4000-6000 feet. Sometimes in the forest of Coulter pines, sometimes in that sparse desert chaparral with Yucca whipplei, Penstemon spectabilis, Nolina bigelovii and Opuntia , sometimes in heavy chaparral with Red shanks (Adenostoma sparsifolium). This sage will survive 0 in the higher desert areas, such as above Palmdale and not here in the central coast ranges because the temperatures dip down below freezing only for a few hours (the ground doesn't freeze) there.

A plant for a healthy California garden.  Drought tolerant, nice looking and good for the wildlife.

The leaves are about the same size as the regular Salvia apiana, they're just closer together resulting in a smaller plant that can fit into a normal garden.

Here's a native sage page where you can see all the sages of California.