CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE GRAY HERBARIUM OF HARVARD 

 UNIVERSITY, NEW SERIES, NO. XIX. 



By M. L, Fernald. 



Presented by B. L. Robinson, March 14, 1900. Received April 19, 1900. 



I.— A SYNOPSIS OF THE MEXICAN AND CENTRAL 

 AMERICAN SPECIES OF SALVIA. 



In his monograph of the Labiatae in De Caudolle's Prodromus, Ben- 

 tham (1848) recognized 118 species of Salvia in Mexico and Central 

 America, several of them, however, being known only from the original 

 descriptions. 



In the botanical portion of Biologia Central i- Americana, Mr. Hemsley 

 enumerated 135 species, but a number of them were unknown to him, 

 seven have proved to be identical with others there listed, and the records 

 of two are based upon their occurrence in adjacent portions of the 

 United States but not in Mexico proper. Thus excluding these nine 

 species, there were recorded by Mr. Hemsley, in 1887, 126 Mexican 

 and Central American Salvias. 



During the past quarter century the unprecedented activity in the 

 botanical exploration of those countries has brought together in Salvia, 

 as in many other large genera, an abundance of material for study. 

 Many of these recent collections have been critically examined, and a 

 large number of species based upon them have been described. The 

 collections of the past decade, furthermore, contain very many unique 

 plants which cannot be referred to any of the species already published. 

 These species, together with those described in the last half-century, 

 since the publication of Bentham's treatment of the group in the Pro- 

 dromus, increase the number of known Mexican and Central American 

 Salvias by nearly one hundred. 



In order to place before students of Mexican botany many previously 

 undescribed forms and to show more clearly than could otherwise be 

 done their affinities, a synopsis has been prepared of all the known 

 Mexican and Central American species. In the preparation of this 

 work the general divisions of Bentham have been adopted, though with 



