SALSOLA 



SALVIA 



3057 



SALSOLA (Latin, salsus, salty; the plants grow in 

 salty places). Chenopodiacex. Weedy annual and per- 

 ennial branching herbaceous plants of some 50 species 

 of very wide distribution, mostly on seashores and in 

 saline "soils, of no horticultural interest. Lvs. narrow, 

 usually awl-shaped or long-pointed, commonly fleshy: 

 fls. very small, sessile in the axils 

 (Fig. 3533), perfect, provided 

 with 2 bractlets; calyx 5-parted, 

 the segms. winged on the back; 

 petals 0; stamens usually 5; 

 styles 2: fr. a flattened utricle, 

 with a horizontal seed. Of inter- 

 est because it includes the Rus- 

 sian thistle, S. Kali, Linn., var. 

 tenuifolia, Mey. (S. pestifer, 

 Xels.), now a widespread weed 

 along railway rights of way and 

 very abundant in the prairie 

 and plains regions; of relatively 

 recent intro. from Eurasia. With 

 good tillage and short rotations 

 it is not to be feared; when 

 young or growing, it may have 

 some value as forage. It is a 

 bushy annual (Fig. 3534), and 

 when broken off in autumn forms 

 one of the tumble-weeds, and is 

 carried long distances before 

 the wind. 



SALVIA (Latin name used as 

 far back as Pliny, meaning to be 

 well or healthy, referring to the 

 medicinal properties of some 

 species). Labiatse. SAGE. Herbs, 

 subshrubs, and shrubs, certain of 

 which are of economic use, such 

 as sage and clary, while others 

 are grown for ornament both 

 indoors and out. 



Leaves entire, dentate-incised 

 or pinnatisect; the floral Ivs. are 

 frequently changed to bracts, 

 rarely similar to the cauline 

 Ivs.: floral whorls 2- to many- 

 fld., variously arranged, spicate, 

 racemose, paniculate or rarely 

 all axillary: fls. variously 

 colored, rarely yellow, and vari- 

 ous-sized from large and showy 

 to minute: calyx ovoid, tubular or campanulate, 2- 

 lipped; corolla-tube included or exserted, limb 2-lipped; 

 perfect stamens 2, the connective linear, transversely 

 articulate with the filament: nutlets ovoid-3-edged or 

 rather compressed, smooth. Upward of 500 species 

 widely distributed in the temperate and warmer regions 

 of both hemispheres. Sal via was monographed in 1848 

 by Bentham in DC. Prod., vol. 12, and an index to the 

 407 species therein described is found in Buek's 

 Genera, Species et Synonyma, etc., pars iii. In 1876, 

 Hemsley gave an account in The Garden (9:430-4) 

 of 65 species which had been in cult, up to that time. 

 See also A Synopsis of the Mexican and Central 

 American Species of Salvia, by M. L. Fernald (Proc. 

 Am. Acad. Arts Sci., vol. 35, 1900, and Contrib. Gray 

 Herb. Harvard Univ. X. S. Xo. 19). In the work just 

 cited 209 species are described and there is an elaborate 

 key. Within the generic limits of Salvia the variation 

 is astonishing. The color of the fls. ranges from scarlet 

 through purple and violet to azure-blue, white and even 

 pale yellow, but there seems to be no good pure yel- 

 low. Fig. 3535 indicates something of the range in 

 form of corolla and calyx. Some fls. gape wide open, 

 others are nearly tubular. In some the upper lip is 

 longer than the lower, in other cases the lower lip is 



3533. Sprig of Russian 

 thistle, i Natural size) 



longer than the upper. The lower lip is always 3-lobed, 

 but frequently it does not appear to be so, for the lateral 

 lobes are much reduced while the midlobe is greatly 

 enlarged, often deeply lobed, and becomes the showy 

 part of the fl. The ca^oc is small and green in some, 

 large, colored, and showy in others. In many cases, as 

 S. leucantha, the corolla and calyx are of different 

 colors. The bracts range from minute and deciduous to 

 a larger size and more attractive color than the fls. 

 There are usually about 6 fls. in a whorl, sometimes 2, 

 sometimes many. In spite of these and many other 

 wide variations, few attempts have been made to split 

 up Salvia into many genera, presumably from the feel- 

 ing that the structure of the stamens makes the Salvias 

 a natural, not an artificial group. 



Cultivation of salvias. (Wilhelm Miller.) 



Three salvias are cultivated for their leaves, which 

 are used in seasoning and also in medicine. These are 

 the common sage, S. officinalis; clary, S. Sdarea; and 

 S. Horminum. For commercial cultivation of S. offi- 

 cincdis, see Sage. 



Clary is a perennial plant, but is cultivated as an 

 annual or biennial. The plants run to seed the second 

 year, after which it is better to pull up the old plants. 

 The seed may be sown in spring, in drills 12 to 20 inches 

 apart or in a seed-bed, from which the seedlings are 

 pricked out in May. In August the first leaves may be 

 gathered and the plants will continue to yield until 

 June or July of the following year. 



Clary (S. Sdarea) and its near relative, S. Hor- 

 minum, are plants of exceptional interest. They are 

 cultivated for their culinary and medicinal value and 

 also for ornament, but their ornamental value lies not 

 in the flowers (which are usually insignificant) but in the 

 colored bracts or floral leaves at the tops of the branches. 

 The various varieties are known as the Purple-top 

 clary, Red-top clary or White-top clary; also Red sage 

 and Purple sage. The two species (S. Sdarea and S. 

 Horminum) seem to be much confused in the cata- 

 logues. 



Among the salvias grown for ornament there are 

 two large cultural groups, the hardy and the tender. 

 The hardy species are mostly border plants, blooming 

 in spring and early summer. The tender species are 



3534. Plant of Russian thistle. 



generally used for summer bedding, sometimes for con- 

 servatory decoration in winter. Many of them bloom in 

 summer and late fall, especially when they are treated 

 as half-hardy annuals. 



As regards color of flowers, there are also two impor- 

 tant groups, the scarlet-flowered, and the kinds with 

 blue, purple, violet, white, or variegated flowers. Of the 

 scarlet kinds, S. splendens is the most called for; of the 

 blue-flowered kinds, S. patens is the most popular of 

 the bedding class, and S. pratensis the most sought 

 of the hardy class. S. patens probably has the largest 

 flowers of any of the blue-flowered kinds in cultivation. 



The most widely used of all salvias cultivated for 

 ornament is Salvia splendens, or scarlet sage. This is 



