''Salvia'' () is the largest genus of plants in the sage family

Lamiaceae The Lamiaceae ( ) or Labiatae are a family of flowering plants commonly known as the mint, deadnettle or sage family. Many of the plants are aromatic in all parts and include widely used culinary herbs like basil, mint, rosemary, sage, savory ...

, with nearly 1000 species of

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

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 ...

perennials, and annuals. Within the Lamiaceae, ''Salvia'' is part of the tribe Mentheae within the subfamily Nepetoideae. One of several genera commonly referred to as sage, it includes two widely used herbs, ''Salvia officinalis'' ( common sage, or just "sage") and ''Salvia rosmarinus'' ( rosemary, formerly ''Rosmarinus officinalis''). The genus is distributed throughout the

Old World The "Old World" is a term for Afro-Eurasia that originated in Europe , after Europeans became aware of the existence of the Americas. It is used to contrast the continents of Africa, Europe, and Asia, which were previously thought of by the ...

and the Americas (over 900 total species), with three distinct regions of diversity: Central America and South America (approximately 600 species); Central Asia and the Mediterranean (250 species); Eastern Asia (90 species).

Etymology

The name ''Salvia'' derives from Latin (sage), from (safe, secure, healthy), an adjective related to (health, well-being, prosperity or salvation), and (to feel healthy, to heal). Pliny the Elder was the first author known to describe a plant called "''Salvia''" by the Romans, likely describing the type species for the genus ''Salvia'', '' Salvia officinalis''. The common modern English name ''sage'' derives from Middle English , which was borrowed from Old French , from Latin (the source of the botanical name). When used without modifiers, the name 'sage' generally refers to '' Salvia officinalis'' ("common sage" or "culinary sage"), although it is used with modifiers to refer to any member of the genus. The

ornamental Ornamental may refer to: *Ornamental grass, a type of grass grown as a decoration *Ornamental iron, mild steel that has been formed into decorative shapes, similar to wrought iron work *Ornamental plant, a plant that is grown for its ornamental qua ...

species are commonly referred to by their genus name ''Salvia''.

Description

''Salvia'' species include annual, biennial, or perennial herbaceous plants, along with woody

subshrub A subshrub (Latin ''suffrutex'') or dwarf shrub is a short shrub, and is a woody plant. Prostrate shrub is a related term. "Subshrub" is often used interchangeably with "bush".Jackson, Benjamin, Daydon; A Glossary of Botanic Terms with their Der ...

s. The stems are typically angled like other members in Lamiaceae. The leaves are typically entire, but sometimes toothed or pinnately divided. The flowering stems bear small bracts, dissimilar to the basal leaves—in some species the bracts are ornamental and showy. The flowers are produced in

raceme A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the s ...

s or

panicle A panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a panicle are of ...

s, and generally produce a showy display with flower colors ranging from blue to red, with white and yellow less common. The

calyx Calyx or calyce (plural "calyces"), from the Latin ''calix'' which itself comes from the Ancient Greek ''κάλυξ'' (''kálux'') meaning "husk" or "pod", may refer to: Biology * Calyx (anatomy), collective name for several cup-like structures ...

is normally tubular or bell shaped, without bearded throats, and divided into two parts or lips, the upper lip entire or three-toothed, the lower two-cleft. The corollas are often claw shaped and are two-lipped. The upper lip is usually entire or three-toothed. The lower lip typically has two lobes. The

stamen The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...

s are reduced to two short structures with anthers two-celled, the upper cell fertile, and the lower imperfect. The flower styles are two-cleft. The fruits are smooth ovoid or oblong nutlets and in many species they have a mucilaginous coating. Many members of ''Salvia'' have trichomes (hairs) growing on the leaves, stems and flowers, which help to reduce water loss in some species. Sometimes the hairs are glandular and secrete volatile oils that typically give a distinct aroma to the plant. When the hairs are rubbed or brushed, some of the oil-bearing cells are ruptured, releasing the oil. This often results in the plant being unattractive to grazing animals and some insects.

Staminal lever mechanism

The defining characteristic of the genus ''Salvia'' is the unusual pollination mechanism. It is central to any investigation into the

systematics Biological systematics is the study of the diversification of living forms, both past and present, and the relationships among living things through time. Relationships are visualized as evolutionary trees (synonyms: cladograms, phylogenetic tre ...

, species distribution, or pollination biology of ''Salvia''. It consists of two stamens (instead of the typical four found in other members of the tribe Mentheae) and the two thecae on each stamen are separated by an elongate connective which enables the formation of the lever mechanism. Sprengel (1732) was the first to illustrate and describe the nototribic (dorsal) pollination mechanism in Salvia.Sprengel, C. K. 1793. Das entdeckte Geheimnis der Natur im Bau und in der Befruchtung der Pflanzen. Friedrich Vieweg dem aeltern, Berlin, Germany. When a

pollinator A pollinator is an animal that moves pollen from the male anther of a flower to the female stigma of a flower. This helps to bring about fertilization of the ovules in the flower by the male gametes from the pollen grains. Insects are the maj ...

probes a male stage flower for

nectar Nectar is a sugar-rich liquid produced by plants in glands called nectaries or nectarines, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to animal mutualists ...

, (pushing the posterior

anther The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filam ...

theca) the lever causes the stamens to move and the

pollen Pollen is a powdery substance produced by seed plants. It consists of pollen grains (highly reduced microgametophytes), which produce male gametes (sperm cells). Pollen grains have a hard coat made of sporopollenin that protects the gametophyt ...

to be deposited on the pollinator. When the pollinator withdraws from the flower, the lever returns the stamens to their original position. In older, female stage flowers, the stigma is bent down in a general location that corresponds to where the pollen was deposited on the pollinator's body. The lever of most ''Salvia'' species is not specialized for a single pollinator, but is generic and selected to be easily released by many bird and bee pollinators of varying shapes and sizes. The lever arm can be specialized to be different lengths so that the pollen is deposited on different parts of the pollinator's body.Classen-Bockhoff R, Tweraser E, Wester P. 2003. The staminal lever mechanism in Salvia L. (Lamiaceae) – a review. Plant Biology 5: 33–41. For example, if a bee went to one flower and pollen was deposited on the far back of her body, but then it flew to another flower where the stigma was more forward (anterior), pollination could not take place. This can result in reproductive isolation from the parental population and new speciation can occur. It is believed that the lever mechanism is a key factor in the speciation, adaptive radiation, and diversity of this large genus.

Taxonomy

History

George Bentham was first to give a full

monograph A monograph is a specialist work of writing (in contrast to reference works) or exhibition on a single subject or an aspect of a subject, often by a single author or artist, and usually on a scholarly subject. In library cataloging, ''monograph ...

ic account of the genus in 1832–1836, and based his classifications on staminal morphology. Bentham's work on classifying the family

Labiatae The Lamiaceae ( ) or Labiatae are a family of flowering plants commonly known as the mint, deadnettle or sage family. Many of the plants are aromatic in all parts and include widely used culinary herbs like basil, mint, rosemary, sage, s ...

(''Labiatarum Genera et Species'' (1836)) is still the only comprehensive and global organization of the family. While he was clear about the integrity of the overall family, he was less confident about his organization of ''Salvia'', the largest genus in Labiatae (also called Lamiaceae). Based on his own philosophy of classification, he wrote that he "ought to have formed five or six genera" out of ''Salvia''. In the end, he felt that the advantage in placing a relatively uniform grouping in one genus was "more than counterbalanced by the necessity of changing more than two hundred names." At that time there were only 291 known ''Salvia'' species.

Subdivision

Bentham eventually organized ''Salvia'' into twelve sections (originally fourteen), based on differences in corolla, calyx, and stamens. These were placed into four subgenera that were generally divided into

and New World species: *Subgenus ''Salvia'': Old World (Sections: Hymenosphace, Eusphace, Drymosphace) *Subgenus ''Sclarea'': Old World (Sections: Horminum, Aethiposis, Plethiosphace) *Subgenus ''Calosphace'': New World (Section: Calosphace) *Subgenus ''Leonia'': Old and New World (Sections: Echinosphace, Pycnosphace, Heterosphace, Notiosphace, Hemisphace) His system is still the most widely studied classification of ''Salvia'', even though more than 500 new species have been discovered since his work. Other botanists have since offered modified versions of Bentham's classification system, while botanists in the last hundred years generally do not endorse Bentham's system. It was long assumed that ''Salvias unusual pollination and stamen structure had evolved only once, and that therefore ''Salvia'' was

monophyletic In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gro ...

, meaning that all members of the genus evolved from one ancestor. However, the immense diversity in staminal structure, vegetative habit, and floral morphology of the species within ''Salvia'' has opened the debate about its infrageneric classifications. Patch of Dominican sage

Phylogenetic analyses

Through DNA sequencing, ''Salvia'' was shown to not be monophyletic but to consist of three separate

clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...

s (''Salvia'' clades I–III) each with different

sister group In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and t ...

s. They also found that the staminal lever mechanism evolved at least two separate times, through convergent evolution. Walker and Sytsma (2007) clarified this parallel evolution in a later paper combining molecular and morphological data to prove three independent lineages of the ''Salvia'' lever mechanism, each corresponding to a clade within the genus. It is surprising to see how similar the staminal lever mechanism structures are between the three lineages, so ''Salvia'' proves to be an interesting but excellent example of convergent evolution. Walker and Sytsma (2007) also addressed the question of whether ''Salvia'' is truly polyphyletic or just

paraphyletic In taxonomy (general), taxonomy, a group is paraphyletic if it consists of the group's most recent common ancestor, last common ancestor and most of its descendants, excluding a few Monophyly, monophyletic subgroups. The group is said to be pa ...

within the tribe Mentheae. To make ''Salvia'' monophyletic would require the inclusion of 15 species from ''Rosmarinus'', ''Perovskia'', ''Dorystaechas'', ''Meriandra'', and ''Zhumeria''

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...

. The information attained by Walker and Sytsma (2007) supporting the three independent origins of the staminal lever indicate that ''Salvia'' is not the case where 15 species (currently not members of the genus) are actually members of ''Salvia'' but underwent character reversals—in other words, ''Salvia'' is paraphyletic as previously circumscribed. In 2017 Drew et al. recircumscribed ''Salvia'', proposing that the five small embedded genera (''Dorystaechas'', ''Meriandra'', ''Perovskia'', ''Rosmarinus'', and ''Zhumeria'') be subsumed into a broadly defined ''Salvia''. This approach would require only 15 name changes whereas maintaining the five small genera and renaming various ''Salvia'' taxa would require over 700 name changes. The circumscription of individual species within ''Salvia'' has undergone constant revision. Many species are similar to each other, and many species have varieties that have been given different specific names. There have been as many as 2,000 named species and subspecies. Over time, the number has been reduced to less than a thousand. A modern and comprehensive study of ''Salvia'' species was done by Gabriel Alziar, in his ''Catalogue Synonymique des ''Salvia'' du Monde'' (1989) (''World Catalog of ''Salvia'' Synonyms''). He found that the number of distinct species and subspecies could be reduced to less than 700.

Selected species and their uses

Many species are used as

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 ...

s, as ornamental plants (usually for flower interest), and sometimes for their ornamental and aromatic foliage. Some species, such as '' Salvia columbariae'' and '' Salvia hispanica'', are also grown for their seeds. The Plant List has 986 accepted species names. A selection of some well-known species is below. *'' Salvia apiana'': white sage; sacred to a number of Native American peoples, and used by some tribes in their ceremonies *''

Salvia azurea ''Salvia azurea'', the azure blue sage, azure sage, blue sage or prairie sage, is a herbaceous perennial in the genus ''Salvia'' that is native to Central and Eastern North America.Kathleen N. Brenzel, Editor, ''Sunset Western Garden Book'' (Menl ...

'': blue sage *''

Salvia buchananii ''Salvia buchananii'', or Buchanan's sage, is a species of flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae. It is a herbaceous perennial or subshrub that was only found in the wild in the northeastern extreme of the state of Querétaro, Mexico, aft ...

'': Buchanan sage; woody-based

stolon In biology, stolons (from Latin '' stolō'', genitive ''stolōnis'' – "branch"), also known as runners, are horizontal connections between organisms. They may be part of the organism, or of its skeleton; typically, animal stolons are external s ...

iferous perennial, deep pink flowers *''

Salvia cacaliifolia ''Salvia cacaliifolia'', the blue vine sage or Guatemalan sage, is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae, native to the mountains of Chiapas, Mexico, and in Guatemala and Honduras, at elevation. It has been available in the United ...

'': blue vine sage or Guatemalan sage; pure gentian-blue flowers *''

Salvia candelabrum ''Salvia candelabrum'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae, native to Spain. It is a woody-based perennial growing to , with woolly grey-green leaves that resemble those of the common sage, '' S. officinalis'', and emit a sim ...

'': candelabrum sage; woody-based perennial, violet flowers *'' Salvia columbariae'': wild chia; annual plant with seeds that are sometimes used like those of '' Salvia hispanica'' *''

Salvia divinorum ''Salvia divinorum'' (Latin: "sage of the diviners"; also called ska maría pastora, seer's sage, yerba de la pastora, magic mint or simply salvia) is a plant species with transient psychoactive properties when its leaves are consumed by che ...

'': diviner's sage; sometimes cultivated for hallucinogenic effects; the legality of its use is under review in some US states *''

Salvia elegans ''Salvia elegans'', a species with several varieties including pineapple sage and tangerine sage, is a perennial shrub native to Mexico. It inhabits Madrean and Mesoamerican pine-oak forests between . Description ''Salvia elegans'' Pineapple Sa ...

'': pineapple sage; widely grown as an ornamental shrub or sub-shrub, with pineapple scented leaves *''

Salvia fruticosa ''Salvia fruticosa'', or Greek sage, is a perennial herb or sub-shrub native to the eastern Mediterranean, including Southern Italy, the Canary Islands and North Africa. It is especially abundant in Israel and Lebanon. Description Greek sage ...

'': Greek sage; commonly grown and harvested as an alternative to common sage *''

Salvia fulgens ''Salvia fulgens'', the Cardinal sage or Mexican scarlet sage, is a species of flowering plant native to the Mexican mountains adjacent to the state of Puebla, growing at 8,700-11,000 ft elevation. It prefers the edge of oak and coniferous w ...

'': Cardinal sage, Mexican scarlet sage; small evergreen sub-shrub, red flowers *''

Salvia guaranitica ''Salvia guaranitica'', the anise-scented sage or hummingbird sage, is a species of flowering plant in the sage family, ''Lamiaceae'', native to a wide area of South America, including Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina. It is cultivated al ...

'': hummingbird sage, anise-scented sage; tall perennial, deep blue flowers *'' Salvia hispanica'': chia; produces edible seeds high in protein and in the omega-3 fatty acid, α-linolenic acid (ALA). *''

Salvia involucrata ''Salvia involucrata'', the roseleaf sage, is a species of flowering plant in the sage family Lamiaceae. This herbaceous perennial is native to the Mexican states of Puebla, Tamaulipas, and Veracruz, growing in shady places such as the edge of fo ...

'': roseleaf sage; woody-based perennial *''

Salvia jurisicii ''Salvia jurisicii'', commonly known as Jurisic sage and Yugoslavian cut leaf sage or locally as Ovche Pole sage, is a hardy herbaceous perennial endemic to the steppe-like region in central North Macedonia. Together with other rare species, ''Sa ...

'': Ovche Pole sage; a rare, compact "feathery" perennial endemic to North Macedonia, violet flowers *''

Salvia leucantha ''Salvia leucantha'', the Mexican bush sage, is a herbaceous perennial plant that is native to subtropical and tropical conifer forests in central and eastern Mexico. The flowers are usually white, emerging from coloured bracts. It is not frost ...

'': Mexican bush sage, woolly sage; ornamental evergreen subshrub, white/pink flowers *''

Salvia microphylla ''Salvia microphylla'', the baby sage, Graham's sage, or blackcurrant sage, is an evergreen shrub found in the wild in southeastern Arizona and the mountains of eastern, western, and southern Mexico. It is a very complex species which easily hybr ...

'': baby sage: small ornamental shrub from Mexico, widely cultivated with many cultivars *'' Salvia miltiorrhiza'': red sage,

Danshen ''Salvia miltiorrhiza'' (), also known as red sage, Chinese sage, tan shen, or danshen, is a perennial plant in the genus ''Salvia'', highly valued for its roots in traditional Chinese medicine. Native to China and Japan, it grows at elevation, ...

; Chinese medicinal herb *''

Salvia nemorosa ''Salvia nemorosa'', the woodland sage, Balkan clary, blue sage or wild sage, is a hardy herbaceous perennial plant native to a wide area of central Europe and Western Asia. It is an attractive plant that is easy to grow and propagate, with the ...

'': woodland sage, Balkan clary; perennial with many ornamental varieties and cultivars *'' Salvia officinalis'': sage, common sage; used widely in cooking, as an ornamental, and in

herbal medicine Herbal medicine (also herbalism) is the study of pharmacognosy and the use of medicinal plants, which are a basis of traditional medicine. With worldwide research into pharmacology, some herbal medicines have been translated into modern remed ...

*''

Salvia patens ''Salvia patens'', the gentian sage or spreading sage, is a species of flowering plant in the sage family Lamiaceae that is native to a wide area of central Mexico. This herbaceous perennial was introduced into horticulture in 1838 and popularize ...

'': gentian sage; herbaceous perennial, blue flowers *''

Salvia pratensis ''Salvia pratensis'', the meadow clary or meadow sage, is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae, native to Europe, western Asia and northern Africa. The Latin specific epithet ''pratensis'' means "of meadows", referring to its ...

'': clary: herbaceous perennial, violet flowers *''

Salvia rosmarinus ''Salvia rosmarinus'' (), commonly known as rosemary, is a shrub with fragrant, evergreen, needle-like leaves and white, pink, purple, or blue flowers, native to the Mediterranean region. Until 2017, it was known by the scientific name ''Rosmari ...

'': rosemary; herbaceous perennial, blue flowers *'' Salvia sclarea'': clary; grown as an ornamental and to some extent for perfume oils *''

Salvia spathacea ''Salvia spathacea'', the California hummingbird sage, hummingbird sage, or pitcher sage, is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae, native to southern and central California growing from sea level to . This fruity scented sage bloo ...

'': California hummingbird sage, pitcher sage; ornamental, fruit-scented with rose pink flowers *'' Salvia splendens'': scarlet sage; popular

tender Tender may refer to: Entertainment Film * ''Illegal Tender'' (2007), a film directed by Franc. Reyes * ''Tender'' (2012), a short film by Liz Tomkins * ''Tender'' (2019), a short film by Darryl Jones and Anthony Lucido * ''Tender'' (2019), a sh ...

ornamental bedding or pot plant. *''

Salvia uliginosa The plant known as ''Salvia uliginosa'', the bog sage, is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae, native to southern Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina. It was described and named by botanist George Bentham for its typical habitat "of ...

'': bog sage; herbaceous perennial, blue flowers ''Salvia'' species are used as food plants by the

larvae A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. The ...

of some

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) is an order (biology), order of insects that includes butterfly, butterflies and moths (both are called lepidopterans). About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 Family (biology), families and 46 Taxonomic r ...

( butterfly and moth) species including the bucculatricid leaf-miner ''Bucculatrix taeniola'' which feeds exclusively on the genus and the '' Coleophora'' case-bearers ''C. aegyptiacae'', ''C. salviella'' (both feed exclusively on '' Salvia. aegyptiaca''), ''C. ornatipennella'' and ''C. virgatella'' (both recorded on '' Salvia. pratensis'').

Hybrids

Many interspecific hybrids occur naturally, with a relatively high degree of crossability, but some such as '' Salvia officinalis'' × ''

Salvia lavandulifolia ''Salvia lavandulifolia'' (Spanish sage) is a small woody herbaceous perennial native to Spain and southern France, growing in rocky soil in Maquis shrubland, often found growing with rosemary, '' Lavandula lanata'', and ''Genista cinerea''. ' ...

'' and ''

'' × ''

Salvia tomentosa ''Salvia'' () is the largest genus of plants in the sage family Lamiaceae, with nearly 1000 species of shrubs, herbaceous perennials, and annuals. Within the Lamiaceae, ''Salvia'' is part of the tribe Mentheae within the subfamily Nepetoideae ...

'' have been intentional. A natural hybrid, ''

Salvia longispicata ''Salvia longispicata'' is a perennial shrub native to southwestern Mexico, growing between elevation. The specific epithet "longispicata" gives the impression that the plant has "long spikes", but instead refers to the many projecting clusters ...

'' × ''

Salvia farinacea ''Salvia farinacea'', the mealycup sage, or mealy sage, is a herbaceous perennial native to Nuevo León, Mexico and parts of the United States including Texas and Oklahoma. Violet-blue spikes rest on a compact plant of typically narrow salvia-lik ...

'' has given rise to a series of popular ornamentals such as ''Salvia'' 'Indigo Spires' and ''Salvia'' 'Mystic Spires Blue'.

AGM cultivars

Numerous garden-worthy cultivars and varieties have been produced, often with mixed or unknown parentage. The following have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established annual award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. History The Award of Garden Merit ...

:- *''Salvia'' 'Amistad': bushy upright perennial, deep blue/purple flowers *''Salvia'' 'Dyson's Joy': small, bushy perennial, bicolor red/pink flowers *''Salvia'' 'Hot Lips': bushy evergreen, red/white flowers *''Salvia'' 'Jezebel': bushy evergreen perennial, red flowers *''Salvia'' 'Nachtvlinder': bushy evergreen perennial, purple flowers *''Salvia'' 'Ribambelle': bushy perennial, salmon-pink flowers *''Salvia'' 'Royal Bumble': evergreen shrub, red flowers *''Salvia'' × ''jamensis'' 'Javier': bushy perennial, purple flowers *''Salvia'' × ''jamensis'' 'Los Lirios': bushy shrub, pink flowers *''Salvia'' × ''jamensis'' 'Peter Vidgeon': bushy perennial, pale pink flowers *''Salvia'' × ''jamensis'' 'Raspberry Royale': evergreen subshrub, raspberry pink flowers *''Salvia'' × ''superba'' 'Rubin': clump-forming perennial, pale pink flowers *''Salvia'' × ''sylvestris'' 'Blauhügel': herbaceous perennial, violet-blue flowers *''Salvia'' × ''sylvestris'' 'Mainacht': compact perennial, deep violet flowers *''Salvia'' × ''sylvestris'' 'Tänzerin': perennial, purple flowers

References

Bibliography

* ''Sage: The Genus Salvia'' by Spiridon E. Kintzios, CRC Press, 2000. . * ''The Gardener's Guide to Growing Salvias'' by John Sutton, Timber Press, 1999. . * * {{Authority control Garden plants Herbs Lamiaceae genera Medicinal plants Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Subshrubs