Salvia hians is a mound-forming perennial, native to the Himalayas from Pakistan to Bhutan. It is common in Kashmir, growing at 2,400 to 4,000 m on open slopes and forests. The plant was described in 1830 by John Forbes Royle, a British botanist living in India who studied the medicinal properties of Himalayan plants.
Salvia sprucei is a herbaceous perennial in the Lamiaceae family that is native to Ecuador, growing at 7,000 feet (2,100 m) elevation or higher in thick scrub on steep slopes. It was named in 1898 by botanist John Isaac Briquet for the British plant collector Richard Spruce. It is likely that Spruce discovered the plant on a collecting trip in Ecuador in 1857.
Salvia brandegeei, the Santa Rosa Island sage or Brandegee's sage, is a perennial evergreen shrub that grows to 3–4 feet in its native habitat. For many years, it was thought to be native only to Santa Rosa Island, one of the Channel Islands of California. In the 1960s and 1970s six colonies were found in Baja California. In cultivation, the plant will reach 4–5 feet tall and up to 7 feet (2.1 m) wide. It has dark green scalloped leaves, about 3-4 inches long and 0.5 inch wide. The pale lavender flowers are about 0.5 inch long, in tightly spaced whorls. The violet-gray calyx, combined with the wide open flower lips, make it a very showy flower.
Salvia chamelaeagnea is a species of flowering plant in genus Salvia, known as sages. It is endemic to South Africa, where it grows on the western coastline of the Cape of Good Hope. It is a shrubby perennial herb up to 6 feet tall and 4 feet wide. It bears three-quarters-inch (two-centimetre) light violet-blue flowers with pale lower lips and white throats. The small, green leaves release a slight medicinal odor when brushed. In the wild, the plant grows in sandy soil in streambeds, open fields, and roadsides. It is cultivated for gardens.
Salvia desoleana is a herbaceous perennial shrub native to the island of Sardinia in the Mediterranean. It is endemic to four or five specific locations on the island in sunny locations on limestone, granitic, and igneous rock. Salvia desoleana was named for the botanist Luigi Desole, and was first described in 1982.
Salvia forsskaolei is a herbaceous perennial plant endemic to the southeastern Balkan peninsula, ranging from Bulgaria and Greece to the Black Sea coastline of Turkey. It grows up to 6,000 ft elevation in broad-leaved and coniferous forests, meadows, and on steep banks. It was named after Finnish explorer and naturalist Peter Forsskål, a student of Carl Linnaeus who collected plants in southwest Arabia in the 18th century.
Salvia karwinskii is a perennial shrub native to the moist mountain forests of Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua, typically growing in or near pine or oak forests at 4,000 to 8,000 feet elevation. It is known as a honey-producing plant in those areas, but is rarely seen in private gardens. Specimens are grown at Strybing Arboretum, Huntington Botanical Gardens, and University of California Botanical Garden.
Salvia melissodora is a woody perennial shrub native to elevations from 4,000-8,000 feet in the Sierra Madre Oriental mountain range in Mexico found by Diana Arias, from Chihuahua in the north to Oaxaca in the south. The plant is also called tarahumara, after the Tarahumara who have used the leaves and seeds for medicinal purposes for several hundred years.
Salvia merjamie is a herbaceous perennial plant that is native to the east African highlands from Ethiopia to Tanzania, and also across the Red Sea in Yemen. It grows between 6,000 and 13,000 feet elevation in grasslands, forest edges, rocky outcrops, basalt slopes, and fallow fields. The specific epithet merjamie is derived from meryamiye, the Arabian common name for the plant, which is shared with other local Salvia species such as Salvia lanigera. The Maasai common name for S. merjamie is Naingungundeu, meaning that the plant smells of rats, though the variety that is common in horticulture is named 'Mint Sauce' and is described as having a strong minty aroma. S. merjamie shares a similar distribution with Salvia nilotica, though they are not known to hybridize.
Salvia namaensis is an evergreen perennial shrub native to a limited area in Namibia and a wide area of South Africa. It is typically found growing on rocky slopes, shales, limestone hills, and sandy soils at 1,000 to 5,000 feet elevation. The specific epithet namaensis probably refers to the Nama tribe which is indigenous to Namaqualand, the region in Namibia where the plant grows.
Salvia oppositiflora is a perennial native to Peru, growing at high elevations—7,000 to 12,000 feet. It was collected in 1798 by Hipólito Ruiz López and José Antonio Pavón Jiménez and later described in Flora of Peru.
Salvia recurva is a woody-based perennial native to the cloud forests of Central America, limited to the northern slopes of Oaxaca, Chiapas, and Guatemala at elevations around 10,000 feet (3,000 m). It grows where there is year-round warmth and abundant moisture in the air and on the forest floor. Salvia recurva was described by George Bentham in 1848, with the specific epithet referring to the distinct curve in the inflorescence when it first appears.
Salvia ringens is a hardy herbaceous perennial native to the southern and eastern parts of the Balkan Peninsula, with many colonies growing on Mount Olympus, the traditional "home of the gods", at altitudes up to 6,200 feet (1,900 m). Elsewhere, it grows in scrub and coniferous woodland between 1,600 feet (490 m) and 4,200 feet (1,300 m). It was grown in English gardens before 1913, and was described by William Robinson in the twelfth edition of The English Flower Garden in 1933. It dropped from sight before being rediscovered in the late 1990s.
Salvia rypara is a herbaceous perennial native to Argentina and Bolivia—due to its being very adaptable it is reported to be naturalized in Mexico and possibly Central America. It prefers stream bank habitats, as the specific epithet rypara implies. It also grows in weedy thickets, thriving at elevations under 3,000 feet. Described by John Isaac Briquet in 1896, it is not very well known in horticulture, with only a few gardeners growing it since the 1990s. It is becoming more well known in the United States, France, England, and Italy because it is easy to grow and makes a very attractive garden plant.
Salvia shannoni is a tender perennial native to the Mexican state of Chiapas, and to Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, growing in or near pine forests at approximately 3,000-5,000 feet elevation. Its native habitat receives regular moisture in the form of fog, rain, and streams, with mild temperatures that stay above freezing. The plant was named by botanist John Donnell Smith in 1893 for William Cummings Shannon, who collected it in the wild. The two were apparently serving in the United States military at the same time. Even though it has been grown in Central America for many years, it is relatively new to horticulture in North America. In El Salvador it has been used for treating malaria, and is known as monte amargo, or "bitterwood.
Salvia somalensis is a perennial shrub endemic to a limited range and elevation in Somalia. It grows at elevations from 4,000 feet (1,200 m) to 7,000 feet (2,100 m), typically in forest clearings or edges as a common or dominant subshrub.
Salvia staminea is a herbaceous perennial shrub native to a wide area in Asia Minor that includes Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, and Iran, where it grows at elevations from 6,000 feet (1,800 m) to 14,000 feet (4,300 m). It is typically found growing in alpine meadows, screes, and cliffs, sometimes growing with scrub oak. Due to the wide variety of habitats in which it is found, there is a wide degree of variation in the species. It was first described in 1836 and has only slowly come into use in horticulture.
Salvia taraxacifolia is a herbaceous perennial shrub that is native only to southwest Morocco, growing in the Atlas Mountains at elevations ranging from 2,000 feet (610 m) to 8,000 feet (2,400 m). Very adaptable, it grows on limestone slopes, forest clearings, and rocky riversides. It has no close allies in the genus Salvia. The specific epithet, taraxacifolia, is likely Persian in origin and means 'leaves shaped like a dandelion'.
Salvia urica is a herbaceous perennial native to the mountains of Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, and Chiapas, Mexico. It is reportedly most common in Guatemala, where it grows in a wide variety of habitats from 1,000 to 8,000 feet elevation, in a mild and moist climate. The specific epithet, urica, means "caterpillar" or "cankerworm", possibly describing the tight whorls of flowers, calyces, and bracts before they open.
Salvia villosa is a herbaceous perennial that is native to the Mexican states of San Luis Potosi and Coahuila, growing at approximately 4,000 feet (1,200 m) elevation in dry areas that have little or no frost.
