Salvia tomentosaMill. Balsamic Sage

Salvia tomentosaMill. - Balsamic Sage

Scientific Description:

Perennial clump-forming suffruticose herb. Stems to 1 m, stiffly erect, quadrangular, often branched above, eglandular-tomentose with sessile glands (rarely with capitate glandular hairs above). Leaves simple, narrowly oblong to ovate, 2−11 × 0.8−5 cm, rounded to cordate at base (occasionally with small

basal lobules), entire to crenulate; petiole 1.7−5.5 cm. Verticillasters 4−10-flowered, distant or condensed above. Bracts broadly ovate, 5−8 × 4−8 mm, deciduous; bracteoles present. Pedicels 5−10 mm. Calyx ± tubular, 12−16 mm, accrescent to 14−18 mm in fruit, usually violet, pilose to villous, with or without capitate glandular hairs; upper lip shortly tridentate. Corolla lilac to purple, or white, c. 25−30 mm; tube straight, 18−22 mm, incompletely annulate; upper lip straight. Stamens A. Nutlets rounded trigonous, ± spherical, 3.5 × 3.2 mm.

 

Flowering time: April−August(−September).

Habitat: Often associated with Pinus brutia L. and Pinus nigra L., Quercus pubescens Willd., in macchie, on limestone or igneous slopes, 90−2000 m.

 

Reference:

Hedge IC (1982). Salvia tomentosa Miller, In: Davis PH (ed.), Flora of Turkey and the East Aegean Islands, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 7: 414.

Public Description:

Salvia tomentosa, known as “balsamic sage”, is distributed in the Balkans, Türkiye, Crimea, Lebanon, Syria, Armenia. It is a suffruticose perennial plant with white or lilac-purplish flowers, and grows up to 55 cm in length. It blooms between April and September and is found in often associated with Pinus brutia L. and Pinus nigra L., Quercus pubescens Willd., in macchie, on limestone or igneous slopes The leaves are used for making herbal tea.

 

References:

Anonymous 1 (2016). http://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Salvia+tomentosa, Accessed date: 17.02.2016.

Anonymous 2 (2016). http://www.tubives.com/index.php?sayfa=1&tax_id=8037/, Accessed date: 17.02.2016.

Celep F, Kahraman A (2012). Salvia L., In: Güner, A., Aslan, S., Ekim, T., Vural, M. & Babaç, M.T. (eds.), Türkiye Bitkileri Listesi (Damarlı Bitkiler). Nezahat Gökyiğit Botanik Bahçesi ve Flora Araştırmaları Derneği Yayını. İstanbul, pp. 575–584.