SPECIES DESCRIPTION
SALVIA PRATENSIS
Family and Genus:- See- LABIATAE/Sect. PLETHIOSPHACE
Common Names:- Meadow clary
Homotypic Synonyms:- Gallitrichum pratense, Plethiosphace pratensis,
Salvia pratensis var. caerulea,Sclarea pratensis.
Meaning:- Salvia (L) Healer, the old Latin name for sage with medicinal
properties.
Pratensis (L) Of a meadow.
General description:- A very variable tall perennial.
Stems:-
1) 20-50 cm, solitary or few, suberect branched, eglandular-pubescent below,
glandular above.
Leaves:-
1) Basal, in a loose rosette, petiolate; blade 5-12 cm, ovate to broadly oblong,
cordate to tmncate at base, irregularly crenate-dentate, rugose and finely
reticulate-veined, glabrescent.
2) Cauline, few and rather small, subsessile.
Flowers:-
1) Inflorescence, usually branched, of several 4-6-flowered verticillasters
±: confluent above.
2) Floral leaves, ovate-cuspidate, usually shorter than the calyx, green.
3) Calyx, 8-11 mm, 2-lipped, glandular- and eglandular-pubescent;
a) upper lip, concave.
4) Corolla, 15-25 mm, purplish-blue;
a) or lower lip, paler.
b) upper lip, strongly falcate, sparsely pilose.
Key features:-
1) Inflorescence ± shortly branched.
2) Leaves ovate to ovate-oblong.
3) Corolla (15-)20-30 mm. with a strongly falcate upper lip.
Habitat:- Scrubland vegetation, deciduous oak scrub and meadows (0)200-900 m.
Distribution:- Scattered throughout mainland Greece and the Ionian islands. Very
rare on Crete, currently recorded from only on area.
The single Cretan collection may represent subsp.haematodes.1)
1) "Atlas of the Aegean Flora" Book1, Arne Strid 2016.
Flowering time:- May-July
Photos by:- Jane Rusbridge
