Another chia: Salvia columbariae

Salvia columbariae is another species of chia, native to the American Southwest. Here is a descriptive datasheet from the USDA.

S. columbariae is also highly nutritional, and is the original "Indian Running Food."

S. columbariae is not cultivated anywhere, to our knowledge, and some reports state that it is the seed used in Chia Pets. We don't know the answer to this.

Mystery solved: When I spoke with Michael P. Hirsch of the Chia Pet company, he told me that Chia Pets once were sold with S. columbariae, but now S. hispanica is used.