Salvia pratensis

Plant Characteristics

Habit		herbaceous
Height:	⇕	36 in"in" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 36.
Width:	⇔	12 in"in" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 12.
Lifespan:	⌛	perennial
Bloom:	❀	early spring, mid spring, late spring

Cultivation

Exposure:	☼	sun
Features:	✓	flowers
USDA Zones:		4 to 10
Flower features:	❀	blue, purple, white

Scientific Names

Lamiaceae >

Salvia >

pratensis >

Salvia pratensis (Meadow Clary or Meadow Sage) is a herbaceous perennial in the family Lamiaceae, native to Europe, western Asia and northern Africa. The specific epithet pratensis refers to its tendency to grow in meadows. It also grows in scrub edges and woodland borders.

Salvia pratensis forms a basal clump from 1-1.5 m tall, with rich green rugose leaves that are slightly ruffled and toothed on the edges. The flower stalks are typically branched, with four to six flowers in each verticil. The 1 inch flowers open from the base of the inflorescence, which grows up to 12 inches long. The small calyx is dark brown. The flowers have a wide variety of color, from rich violet and violet-blue to bluish white, and from pink to pure white. The leaves are arranged in opposite pairs, with those on the lower part of the stem up to 15 cm long, decreasing in size higher up the stem.

At one time it was banned from California because it was thought to have naturalized in three locations. Later it was discovered that the real culprit was S. virgata. Both plants are now allowed in California. It is widely grown in horticulture, especially Salvia pratensis subsp. haematodes, which is prized by flower arrangers as a cut flower. Some botanists consider S. pratensis subsp. haematodes as a separate species.

Read about Salvia pratensis in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Salvia pratensis, Linn. Hardy perennial, 2 ft. or more high: root sometimes tuberous: sts. herbaceous, erect, subsimple, pubescent: lvs., especially in the southern varieties, more or less blood-red maculate; radical lvs. petiolate, oblong-ovate, obtuse, crenate or incised, base cordate, bullate-rugose, glabrous above, pubescent beneath along the petiole and nerves; cauline lvs. few, sessile; floral lvs. cordate-ovate: racemes viscous, subsimple; floral whorls 6-fld., distant; calyx subsessile, campanulate, viscous-villous; corolla bright blue, rarely reddish or white, large, 1 in. long. June- Aug. Eu. Var. alba, Hort., has pure white fls. Var. albiflora, Hort., is a white-fld. form; perhaps this and the preceding are the same. Var. atroviolacea, Hort., has dark violet fls. Var. Baumgartenii, Hort. (S. Baumgartenii, Heuff.), has violet fls. Var. lupinoides, Hort. (S. lupinoides, Hort.), is said to grow 2 ft. high and to have bluish purple and white fls. Var. rosea, Hort. (S. salvatori, Hort.), has rosy purple fls. Var. rubicunda, Hort. (S. rubicunda, Wender.), has rose-red fls. Var. superba, Hort., is offered in the trade. Var. Tenorii, Hort. (S. Tenorii, Spreng.), is said to grow 2 ft. high and to have deep blue fls. Var. variegata, Hort. (S. variegata, Waldst. & Kit.), has light blue fls. with the midlobe of the lower lip white. The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

Cultivation

Gallery

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  Rose colored form.

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  photo 3

References

• Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963

External links

• w:Salvia pratensis. Some of the material on this page may be from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.
• Salvia pratensis QR Code (Size 50, 100, 200, 500)