SALVIA VERBENACA

Family and Genus:- See- LABIATAE/Sect. PLETHIOSPHACE

Common Names:- Wild clary

Homotypic Synonyms:- Gallitrichum verbenacum, Horminum verbenacum,

Larnastyra verbenaca, Salvia linnaei subsp. verbenaca, Sclarea verbenaca.

Meaning:- Salvia (L) Healer, the old Latin name for sage with medicinal

properties.

Verbenaca (L) Verain-like, a name used by the Roman naturalist and

philosopher Pliny.

General description:- A very variable short to tall perennial.

Stems:-

1) 10-80 cm, erect, simple or branched, eglandular-pubescent below, and more

or less glandular above.

Leaves:-

1) Most leaves in a basal rosette, often appressed to the ground, ± pinnatifid and

crenate, green on both sides.

Flowers:-

1) Verticillasters, 4-8-flowered, usually distant below and aggregated above.

2) Floral leaves, somewhat shorter than the calyx, greenish.

3) Calyx, campanulate, 5-7 mm at anthesis, glandular- and eglandular-pubescent;

a) upper lip, with 3 short teeth.

4) Corolla, 8-14 mm, lilac-purple;

a) upper lip, slightly curved.

Fruit:-

1) Achenes, 4 brown or blackish.

Key features:-

1) Stems eglandular below.

2) Leaves ± pinnatifid.

3) Corolla 6-10(-15) mm.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Seasonally damp spots in open dry shrubby vegetation, olive groves,

orchards, field margins and trampled ruderal habitats. 0-900(-1700) m.

Distribution:- Widespread in the Mediterranean region and SW Asia. Widespread

and common on Crete.

Flowering time:- Mar to early June.

Photos by:- Steve Lenton