''Salvia caespitosa'' is a

herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition of t ...

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

native to rocky limestone and volcanic slopes, at 4600–7900 ft elevation, in central and southern

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

. It has been grown in

horticulture Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...

since the 1950s, typically in rock gardens, due to its dwarf, mat-growing habit. ''Caespitosa'' refers to its habit of "growing in dense clumps or tufts", with divided leaves and stems that grow in bunches, rather than being evenly spaced. The pale pinkish lilac flowers, about 1.6 in long, grow on very short

inflorescences An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...

that are barely longer than the leaf.

Notes

caespitosa Flora of Turkey {{Salvia-stub