Salvia involucrata blooms in September in my garden I don't have the other one so I don't know. Sarah

According to Betsy Clebsch, it was identified as a species by Fernald in 1900, but some consider it a variety of S. involucrata Canvanilles.

There is no common name to my knowledge, but why would you need one? You can call it Rose Leaf Sage if you want; many common names are used for more than one plant, which is why they are so imprecise.

David

Thanks for the info!

I was asking about the common names because I often put together printed plant lists for garden seminars and tours. While I am content (and prefer) to go by the scientific name, many of the people I speak to are intimidated by scientific names and very much want a common name, so I try to sort through the various common names and find the most accepted one, or the one most likely to be used by nurseries in my area.

Both species are closely related. As to their being identical, a paper published in the `50s by Epling and Mathias (she for whom the UCLA Botanical Garden is named, I believe) redefined puberula as S. involucrata subsp. puberula. I have not seen the paper, or do not know of further work.

To toally avoid flummoxing the trade and collectors, I refer to the puberulas as just that, until the situation is clarified by a taxonomist. If anyone must call the S. puberula from Hidalgo that I collected S. involucrata, then I would insist on adding the subsp. puberula, since this collection does not have a varietal name. It is identical to the type herbarium sheet in the Harvard Herbarium and was collected at nearly the same location.

Since then, other introduced puberulas include a Yucca-Do form similar to my Hidalgo form, and `El Butano', also by Yucca-Do. When dormant plants of these forms emerge in the spring, there is a very obvious hairiness to the leaves. Involucrata forms do not do this.

Besides form bethelii, other involucratas include `Hadspen', brought over from England by the folks at Wave Hill in New York City, hence the temporary name I gave it, S. involucrata from Wave Hill. `Boutin' is very similar, not yet in the USA. I belive these may well be hybrids.

Which S. puberula is this in the linked picture? Wow!

Here is a link that might be useful: S. puberula in Argentina

The flower spike is corect for S. involucrata bethelii, since it has the slightly elongated involucre characteristic of that form. The ones found on puberulas are nearly globular in shape. The involucre is the dense mass of bracts and small flowers at the tip of the spike.

The involucres in both puberula and involucrata mostly reverts to a regular spike in hybrids. There is usually some sign of the bracts, though they are reduced in size.

The foliage appears to be too wide to be bethelii, but this may be an effect of the amount of sunlight and climate. They are obviously very happy where they are, and the stems are arching to reach for more sun. Bethelii is quite erect in bright sun.

I have this salvia and it is gorgeous. The only drawback is that it gets quite tall...about 8 feet and swamps everything in its path when it blooms. I was wondering if it is OK to pinch it back. If it is OK to pinch it back, should I do it now...it is about 4 feet tall, and the patch itself is about 4 feet across (it has been there about 5 years years). I live in zone 8 in South Carolina. Thanks for any advice-Barb

I recently bought a large S. puberula plant from UCBerkeley Botanical, and it looks quite different from my S. involucrata. Does anyone have any idea where their plant originally came from? Strybing told me that UCB does not accept any hybrids... only wild collected plants.

I think that this thing will become enormous... LOL.

A long time ago I gave UC Berkeley a plant of S. puberula that I collected from a site off the old Pan-American Highway in Hidalgo.

This particular collection and the one from Yucca-Do, which is nearly identical, are the toughest of the puberula/involucrata collections and are reliably hardy in the southeastern US.

I am developing hopes that hardiness will also be a feature of S. oxyphora. It seems to handle heat and humidity pretty well. The all-time champ for durability in subtropical environments is still S. miniata. I wish it was hardier, though.