''Salvia hasankeyfensis'' (Hasankeyf sage) is a recently identified species of wild sage native to the town of

Hasankeyf Hasankeyf ( ar, حصن كيفا, translit=Ḥiṣn Kayfa‘, ku, Heskîf, hy, Հասանքեյֆ, translit=, el, Κιφας, translit=Kifas, lat, Cepha, syr, ܚܣܢܐ ܕܟܐܦܐ, Ḥesno d-Kifo) is a town and district located along the Ti ...

in southeast Turkey and surrounding areas. The species was discovered during fieldwork in Hasankeyf in 2014 by Tuncay Dirmenci and Özal Güner, and described by them in a 2015 paper written with Ferhat Celep. It appears to be related to ''

Salvia verbenaca ''Salvia verbenaca'', also known as wild clary or wild sage, is native to the British Isles, the Mediterranean region in Southern Europe, North Africa, and Near East, and in the Caucasus. It can be found as an introduced species that has natural ...

'', but the authors identify many distinguishing characteristics including ''S. hasankeyfensis's'' white petals (they are lilac to purple in ''S. verbenaca''), and the shapes of the plants' leaves at the base and along the stem. They say it "clearly differs in having denser, narrower,

subsessile In botany, sessility (meaning "sitting", used in the sense of "resting on the surface") is a characteristic of plant parts (such as flowers and leaves) that have no stalk. Plant parts can also be described as subsessile, that is, not completely ...

leaves

hat are A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...

always pinnatisect, oblong in outline, a completely different indumentum and white flowers." ''S. hasankeyfensis'' is a perennial

herb In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal ...

with a woody rootstock. The hairy stems grow 15–50 cm and sometimes branch. It has basal leaves 2–9 cm long and 0.2-2.5 cm across, that are irregularly lobed. There are also oblong leaves on the stems, 0.4–2.5 cm long and 0.2–1.0 cm across. The slender inflorescences bear flowers with grey-green

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...

s and white

petal Petals are modified Leaf, leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often advertising coloration, brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''c ...

s. It is in flower from June to mid-July, and the seeds ripen from July to August. The plant grows in rocky cracks at an elevation of 650–700 m. In contrast, ''S. verbenaca'' has a far broader range of habitats including forest clearings, roadsides, rocky slopes and deciduous woodland. Initial research has estimated that it occurs only within an area of less than 10 km and that there are less than 250 mature plants. Once Turkey fills the reservoir behind the Ilısu Dam, under construction on the

Tigris The Tigris () is the easternmost of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian and Arabian Deserts, and empties into the ...

river downstream of Hasankeyf, this species may face extinction. Accordingly, the paper identifying this new species proposes that it be designated as Critically Endangered. The normal elevation of the reservoir will be 525 m, 125 m below the bottom of ''S. hasankeyfensiss range, but the presence of a large nearby lake in a formerly arid environment may be expected to change the overall ecology significantly. The initial publication of this new species used the name ''Salvia hasankeyfense'', but the specific name was later corrected to ''hasankeyfensis'' to conform with the feminine

gender Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures u ...

of ''Salvia''.

References

Sources

* * hasankeyfensis Herbs Endemic flora of Turkey Plants described in 2015 {{Salvia-stub