''Salvia aethiopis'' is a species of perennial plant known by the common names Mediterranean sage or African sage. It is best known as a

noxious weed A noxious weed, harmful weed or injurious weed is a weed that has been designated by an agricultural or other governing authority as a plant that is injurious to agricultural or horticultural crops, natural habitats or ecosystems, or humans or liv ...

, particularly in the western United States. It is native to Eurasia and was probably introduced to North America as a contaminant of

alfalfa Alfalfa () (''Medicago sativa''), also called lucerne, is a perennial flowering plant in the legume family Fabaceae. It is cultivated as an important forage crop in many countries around the world. It is used for grazing, hay, and silage, as w ...

seed. It is a weed of rangelands and pastures. It is unpalatable to livestock, it disrupts native floral communities, and it becomes a physical nuisance due to the similarity of the persistent dried stems to

tumbleweed A tumbleweed is a structural part of the above-ground anatomy of a number of species of plants. It is a diaspore that, once mature and dry, detaches from its root or stem and rolls due to the force of the wind. In most such species, the tumble ...

. The

weevil Weevils are beetles belonging to the Taxonomic rank, superfamily Curculionoidea, known for their elongated snouts. They are usually small, less than in length, and Herbivore, herbivorous. Approximately 97,000 species of weevils are known. They b ...

'' Phrydiuchus tau'' is used as an agent of

biological pest control Biological control or biocontrol is a method of controlling pests, such as insects, mites, weeds, and plant diseases, using other organisms. It relies on predation, parasitism, herbivory, or other natural mechanisms, but typically also invo ...

on this plant. Boya and Valderde examined a sample of ''Salvia aethiopis''. Acetone extracts of the root furnished a new orthoquinone diterpene, aethiopinone (4,5-seco-5,10-friedo-abieta-4(18),5,6,8,13-pentaen-l1,12-dione). This compound was isolated in 0.15% yield from the dry roots.

Control

''S. aethiopis'' may be easily controlled mechanically and

chemically A chemical reaction is a process that leads to the IUPAC nomenclature for organic transformations, chemical transformation of one set of chemical substances to another. Classically, chemical reactions encompass changes that only involve the pos ...

. It can also be biologically controlled with '' Phrydiuchus tau'', a

References

External links

Jepson Manual TreatmentPhoto gallery

aethiopis The ''Aethiopis'' , also spelled ''Aithiopis'' (Greek: , ''Aíthiopís''; la, Aethiopis), is a lost epic of ancient Greek literature. It was one of the Epic Cycle, that is, the Trojan cycle, which told the entire history of the Trojan War in e ...

Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Salvia-stub