''Salvia caymanensis'', the Cayman sage, is a short-lived perennial plant in the genus ''
Salvia'' that is endemic to
Grand Cayman in the
Cayman Islands
The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territory—the largest by population in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located to the ...
. It was thought to be extinct for nearly 40 years until it was rediscovered in 2007. After the damage caused by
Hurricane Ivan in 2004, conservationists thought that conditions might be ideal for the reappearance of ''Salvia caymanensis'' if there was still viable seeds in the wild. A
wanted poster, offering a 1000
CI$ reward, led to the discovery of the first plants seen since 1967.
Description
''Salvia caymanensis'' grows tall. The strictly erect stem is canescent above and woody below. The ovate-lanceolate leaves long and a wide. The leaves are pale and tomentose on the underside and pilose and dark green on the upperside. The petioles are one-fourth the length of the blade.
Rediscovery
In spring 2007 the Department of Environment of the Cayman Islands in cooperation with the
Darwin Initiative The Darwin Initiative is a UK Government funding program that aims to assist countries with rich biodiversity but poor financial resources to meet their objectives under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD); the Convention on International T ...
, placed wanted posters on the island offering a reward of 1000
CI$ for any living examples of Cayman sage. The posters were timed to anticipate the usual flowering season of the plant. An island resident, slowed down by road work on the typically fast-moving Queen's Highway, saw the inconspicuous blue flowers from her car window, growing near the side of the road. After the initial discovery, 300 individual plants were found and approximately 18,000 seeds collected.
Notes
References
*
George R. Proctor
George Richardson Proctor (1920–2015) was an American botanist and expert on Jamaica, Jamaican flora. He wrote widely on the topic, publishing ''Flora of the Cayman Islands'', and collected over 55,000 specimens from 50 different islands in th ...
''Flora of the Cayman Islands'', 1984.
*
Charles Frederick Millspaugh: ''Plantae Utowanae. Plants collected in Bermuda, Porto Rico, St. Thomas, Culebras, Santo Domingo, Jamaica, Cuba, The Caymans, Cozumel, Yucatan and the Alacran shoals. Dec. 1898-Mar. 1899. The Antillean cruise of the yacht Utowana. Mr. Allison V. Armour, owner and master'', 1900.
External links
Plant extinct? Find it and win"Extinct" plant found on GC
Collected in 1967
{{Taxonbar, from=Q310684
caymanensis
Herbs
Flora of the Cayman Islands