Salvia officinalis
Salvia officinalis L. (Medit.) – A remarkably rare escape from cultivation (or poorly documented?). Collected in 1920 and 1944 on waste land in the surroundings of Antwerpen. In 2000 recorded on old walls (ruins) of the Sint-Pieters abbey in Gent, along with Hyssopus officinalis and Ruta graveolens. In the past years also seen on several occasions on coal mining spoil heaps in the Kempen, for instance in Beringen and Genk. In these localities perhaps more or less (temporarily) established. In 2006 also observed in a quarry in Aywaille (Carrière de Goiveux). Salvia officinalis is still regularly cultivated but apparently rarely escapes in Belgium. It might not be fully hardy, except perhaps in climatologically suitable habitats like coal mining spoil heaps or sun-exposed walls.
Salvia officinalis belongs to a complex species group of which several others are cultivated. Their taxonomy is contested and all are perhaps best accepted at subspecific level (see also Euro+Med Plantbase at http://ww2.bgbm.org/EuroPlusMed/PTaxonDetail.asp?NameId=42756&PTRefFk=8000000. A record of Salvia officinalis from a railway siding near Moha (1900) in fact belonged to the related S. lavandulifolia Vahl subsp. gallica Lippert (syn.: S. officinalis subsp. gallica (W. Lippert) Reales, D. Rivera & Obón; see also Reales & al. 2004). Some of the other claims (for instance one from an old wall in Landelies in 1948, with leaves distinctly cordate at base) may also pertain to related taxa.
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Selected literature:
Afzal-Rafii Z. (1976) Etude cytotaxonomique et phylogénétique de quelques Salvia de la région méditerranéenne: Groupe du Salvia officinalis L. Bull. Soc. Bot. France 123: 515-531.
Figuerola R., Stubing G. & Peris J.B. (1990) El complejo taxonómico de Salvia officinalis (sect. Salvia) en la région Mediterránea occidental: nomenclatura y nuevas combinaciones. Folia Bot. Misc. 7: 81-86. [available online at: http://bibdigital.rjb.csic.es/Imagenes/P0983_7/P0983_7_082.pdf]
Halliwell B. (1981) Sage - past and present. Hort. Northwest. 8(1): 11-15.
Reales A., Rivera D., Palazón J. A. & Obón C. (2004) Numerical taxonomy study of Salvia sect. Salvia (Labiatae). Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 145: 353-371.
Rosua J.L. & Jarvis C.E. (1987) Sobre la lectotypification de Salvia officinalis L. (Lamiaceae). Taxon 36: 634-635.
Walter E. (1990) Der Echte Salbei (Salvia officinalis L.) - verwildert in Oberfranken. Ber. Naturforsch. Ges. Bamberg 65: 1-9.