Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum

Plant Identification => Plant Identification Questions and Answers => Topic started by: Stephenb on July 18, 2009, 08:14:21 PM

Title: Salvia hians?
Post by: Stephenb on July 18, 2009, 08:14:21 PM

Anyone know if this is Salvia hians?

I've had it for many years, but I remember hearing that form the seed exchanges, it was most often an impostor..

 

Title: Re: Salvia hians?
Post by: Gunilla on July 18, 2009, 08:26:08 PM

It looks like a salvia I grow as Salvia forskaohlei. 

Title: Re: Salvia hians?
Post by: Giles on July 18, 2009, 09:23:52 PM

 ;)

Title: Re: Salvia hians?
Post by: Sinchets on July 18, 2009, 09:25:20 PM

A long time ago I bought seed of both S.hians and S.forskaohlei. They both looked like yours Stephen, and I assumed it was S.forskaohlei, after reading it was a common 'mix up'.

Title: Re: Salvia hians?
Post by: Gunilla on July 18, 2009, 09:39:10 PM

Giles, I have grown a Salvia that looked like that and was told it was Salvia hians.  I thought it was wrongly named because the picture of Salvia hians in Betsy Clebsch's book of Salvias looked different.

Salvia hians ?

Title: Re: Salvia hians?
Post by: Giles on July 18, 2009, 10:50:25 PM

I think I've got a headache  :-\

Title: Re: Salvia hians?
Post by: Gunilla on July 19, 2009, 06:17:33 PM

More headache  ;) Some years ago I bought seed of Salvia dolichantha and S. przewalskii. The plants looked identical and match the picture of Salvia hians in Betty Clebsch's book  ??? 

 Salvia przewalskii or dolichantha or hians ?

Title: Re: Salvia hians?
Post by: Sinchets on July 19, 2009, 07:28:09 PM

Gunilla- your Salvia doesn't look like the pic of Salvia hians in "Perennials" by Phillips and Rix. It does however look like the plant I grow as S.przewalskii, though your flower is much paler. Is your plant very sticky/ resinous?

Title: Re: Salvia hians?
Post by: Gunilla on July 19, 2009, 08:04:11 PM

Yes Simon the calyx is sticky.  It is a big salvia with branched flowering stems up to 1,5m.  It seems perfectly hardy. 
The smaller blue and white salvia, possibly the real S. hians, on my first picture did not like my winters.

Title: Re: Salvia hians?
Post by: Paul T on July 19, 2009, 10:41:44 PM

The original pics here look like what I grow as Salvia forskaohlei, but having seen those descriptions I have no idea whether that is correct or not.  Seeds a little for me, and I love the rosette of leaves and the long flower stems.  A very good performer here. :)

Title: Re: Salvia hians?
Post by: Sinchets on July 20, 2009, 08:52:45 AM

Gunilla my S.przewalskii is also tall and the flowers and calyces are very sticky- to the point where collecting seeds is a messy job.
Paul, from the  pictures I have available here, Gunilla's Salvia hians with the split lip is correct. The plant with the white-centred lip with markings looks like pics of S.forskaohlei.

Title: Re: Salvia hians?
Post by: Paul T on July 20, 2009, 01:30:19 PM

Thanks Simon.  That means mine is definitely the latter, as the flowers on mine are the same as the first pic in this topic.

Title: Re: Salvia hians?
Post by: Stephenb on July 20, 2009, 07:41:15 PM

Thanks for clearing this up also for me everyone!!

Title: Re: Salvia hians?
Post by: Gunilla on July 20, 2009, 09:20:24 PM

Thanks Simon, from me too  :).  I have tried to google these salvias several times but I only got more confused  :-\.

Stephen,  I have lost my Salvia hians plants but had a search through my seed packets today and found some old seed that I once collected from my plants.  I don't know about viability (4-5 years old) but I will try them and could send some to you too, if you want.

Title: Re: Salvia hians?
Post by: Sinchets on July 23, 2009, 01:09:30 PM

I am not trying t stretch this out longer than is needed, but thought you might be interested to see wild S.forskaohlei in Bulgaria. The pictures were taken yesterday in the Strandja area. The plant wasseen most frequently on woodland edges and roadsides and was quite variable in theamount of markings on the lip, though the flower colour was constant. Some had completely white lips- others had lots of markings within the white area.