Salvia azurea

Salvia azurea
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Asterids
Order: Lamiales
Family: Lamiaceae
Genus: Salvia
Species: S. azurea
Binomial name
Salvia azurea
Michx. ex Lam.

Salvia azurea (Prairie sage or Blue sage) is a herbaceous perennial in the genus Salvia that is native to Central and Eastern North America.[1][2]

Description

Seeds

Its thin, upright stems can grow to 6 feet (1.5m) tall, with narrow, pointed, smooth-edged to serrated, furry to smooth green leaves, connected to their stems by petioles to .4 inches long (1 cm). There are no basal leaves.[3]

The blue flowers (rarely white), nearly 1/4 to 1/2 inch (7-12mm) long, appear summer to autumn near the ends of their branched or unbranched spikes; their calyxes are tubular or bell-shaped and furry. Two varieties are Salvia azurea var. azurea (azure sage) and Salvia azurea var. grandiflora (pitcher sage).[1][2] It is found on the wild on roadsides, glades, fields and pastures.[3]

Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 Kathleen N. Brenzel, Editor, Sunset Western Garden Book (Menlo Park, CA: Sunset Publishing Corporation, 2001; ISBN 0-376-03875-6)
  2. 2.0 2.1 Mark Griffiths, Index of Garden Plants, 2nd American Edition. (Portland, Oregon: Timber Press, 1995; ISBN 0-88192-246-3)
  3. 3.0 3.1 Carl G. Hunter, Wild Flowers of Arkansas. 6th edition, p. 192. (Little Rock, Arkansas: The Ozark Society Foundation, 2001; ISBN 0-912456-16-7)

External links