''Salvia canescens'', the hoary sage, is a herbaceous perennial that is endemic to the
Caucasus Mountains
The Caucasus Mountains,
: pronounced
* hy, Կովկասյան լեռներ,
: pronounced
* az, Qafqaz dağları, pronounced
* rus, Кавка́зские го́ры, Kavkázskiye góry, kɐfˈkasːkʲɪje ˈɡorɨ
* tr, Kafkas Dağla ...
. The specific epithet, ''canescens'', refers to the off-white hairs covering the leaves.
''Salvia canescens'' was first described in 1831 by the Russian botanist
Carl Anton von Meyer Carl Anton von Meyer (in Russian: Карл Анто́нович фон Ме́йер, ''Karl Antonovich von Meyer'') (1 April 1795 – 24 February 1855) was a German, Russified botanist and explorer.
Meyer was born in Vitebsk. He received his educa ...
.
The English botanist
George Bentham applied the same name to a different species, which he corrected in his 1833 volume of ''Labiatarum Genera et Species'' by applying ''S. canescens'' Benth. as a synonym of ''Salvia pallida''.
[Bentham, G. 1833]
''Labiatarum Genera et Species''
London: James Ridgway and Sons, Piccadilly. p. 250. In 1992, the Russian botanist Y. L. Menitsky reduced the species ''Salvia daghestanica'', originally described in 1951 by Dmitrii Ivanovich Sosnowsky,
to a
variety of ''S. canescens'', thus also requiring the
autonym ''S. canescens'' var. ''canescens''.
''Salvia canescens'' var. ''daghestanica'' reaches nearly tall and wide, forming a mound with snow-white leaves that are covered with white hairs on top and bottom. It has royal purple flowers growing in whorls that bloom in summer and again in autumn, reaching just over long with a small calyx. Inflorescences grow to long, holding the flowers above the foliage.
References
canescens
Plants described in 1831
{{Salvia-stub