Salvia confertiflora

Crowded sage (Salvia confertiflora )

The Crowded sage (Salvia confertiflora ) is a plant of the species-rich genus sage (Salvia ) in the mint family ( Lamiaceae).

Description

The Crowded Sage is a perennial herbaceous plant that reaches the heights of growth from 1.3 to 2 meters and is about as wide.

The leaves are dark green with slight yellowish tint. The leaf blades of the largest leaves are up to 18 inches long and 9 inches wide. The leaf surface is deeply wrinkled, leaf margin serrate. The stems and petioles are hairy soft reddish brown.

The type is a late bloomer; the flowering period is in the fall from early September until the frost period. In its heyday, the plant is rich covered with leaves and inflorescences, so that in culture support aids and wind protection are recommended for flowering time. The ear-like upright inflorescences are 30-60 inches long and so thick hairy that they appear as red-brown furred. Similarly, the inflorescence stalk and the flower stems are hairy brown. The numerous and close to the inflorescence standing flowers ( this explains the epithet confertiflora, translated, crowded - flowered ') are approximately 1 inch long and reddish orange.

Dissemination and locations

The home of Crowded sage is Brazil. The plant is cultivated in gardens in the United States since the 1960s; she was most likely previously been in Great Britain and France in culture.

The species tolerates only lighter frosts.

System

The species was first described by Austrian botanist Johann Baptist Emanuel Pohl in his 1826-1833 published work Plantarum Icones et Brasiliae Descriptiones hactenus ineditae.

One by Johann Anton Schmidt (1823-1905) in the Flora Brasiliensis by Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius in 1858 described the variety Salvia confertiflora var angustifolia is not recognized as such, therefore, is a synonym for the type.

Propagation

The plant can be easily propagated by cuttings.

Documents

• Betsy Clebsch, Carol D. Barner: The New Book of Salvias. Sages for every garden. Timber Press, 2003, ISBN 978-0881925609, pp. 86-88 ( limited preview on Google Book Search ).