List of Salvia species
Salvia is the largest genus of plants in the family Lamiaceae, with the number of species estimated to range from 700 to nearly 3,000. Members include shrubs, herbaceous perennials, and annuals. There are three main regions of radiation of Salvia:
- Central and South America and Middle America and Mesoamerica, Latin America and with Africa-Eurasia and North America, (America), with approximately 600 species;
- North-Northern, Central and West-Western Asia and the Mediterranean with approx. 250 species;
- East-Eastern and South-Southern Asia and Australia and Oceania with approximately 90 species.[1]
The naming of distinct Salvia species has undergone regular revision, with many species being renamed, merged, and reclassified over the years. Salvia officinalis (common sage), for example, has been cultivated for thousands of years, yet has been named and described under six different scientific names since 1940 alone. At one time there were over 2,000 named species and subspecies. A revision in 1988 by Gabriel Alziar of the Jardin botanique de la Ville de Nice consolidated the number of different species to approximately 700. As new discoveries are made, the taxonomic list of Salvia species will continue to change.[2][3][4]
The first significant accounting of the genus was done by George Bentham in 1832–1836, based on a similarity in staminal morphology between Salvia members.[5] His work, Labiatarum Genera et Species (1836), is still the most comprehensive organization of Salvia. Even though there were only 291 species at that time, he still considered the possibility of forming five or six genera, due to differences between certain groups of Salvia. Bentham eventually organized the genus into four subgenera and twelve sections, based on differences in the corolla, calyx, and stamens. In the last 100 years, that system of organization is generally not endorsed by botanists.[2]
The classification of Salvia has long been based on the genus' unusual pollination and stamen structure, which was presumed to have evolved only once. More recently, a study using DNA sequencing of Salvia species has shown that different versions of this lever mechanism have evolved at least three different times within Salvia. This clearly makes the genus non-monophyletic, which means that members of the genus have evolved from different ancestors, rather than sharing one common ancestor. The DNA analysis has shown that the genus may consist of as many as three different clades, or branches.[1] The study concluded that Salvia is not a natural genus—some of its branches have a closer relationship to other genera in the tribe Mentheae than to other Salvia species.[6]
As of May 2024[update], Plants of the World Online accepted 1024 species, listed below.[7]
A
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- Salvia abrotanoides (Kar.) Sytsma
- Salvia absconditiflora Greuter & Burdet
- Salvia acerifolia B.L.Turner
- Salvia acuminata Ruiz & Pav.
- Salvia adenocaulon P.H.Davis
- Salvia adenophora Fernald
- Salvia adenophylla Hedge & Hub.-Mor.
- Salvia adiantifolia E.Peter
- Salvia adiyamanensis İlçim & Tel
- Salvia adoxoides C.Y.Wu
- Salvia aegyptiaca L.
- Salvia aequidens Botsch.
- Salvia aequidistans Fernald
- Salvia aerea H.Lév.
- Salvia aethiopis L.
- Salvia africana L.
- Salvia agnes Epling
- Salvia akiensis A.Takano, Sera & N.Kurosaki
- Salvia alamosana Rose
- Salvia alata Epling
- Salvia albicalyx J.G.González
- Salvia albicaulis Benth.
- Salvia albiflora M.Martens & Galeotti
- Salvia albimaculata Hedge & Hub.-Mor.
- Salvia albiterrarum J.G.González & Art.Castro
- Salvia albocaerulea Linden
- Salvia alborosea Epling & Játiva
- Salvia alexeenkoi Pobed.
- Salvia algeriensis Desf.
- Salvia ali-askaryi S.A.Ahmad
- Salvia aliciae E.P.Santos
- Salvia altimitrata Epling
- Salvia altissima Pohl
- Salvia alvajaca Oerst.
- Salvia amethystina Sm.
- Salvia amissa Epling
- Salvia amplexicaulis Lam.
- Salvia amplicalyx E.Peter
- Salvia amplifrons Briq.
- Salvia anastomosans Ramamoorthy
- Salvia anatolica Hamzaoglu & A.Duran
- Salvia andreji Pobed.
- Salvia anguicoma Epling
- Salvia angulata Benth.
- Salvia angustiarum Epling
- Salvia apiana Jeps.
- Salvia apparicii Brade & Barb.Per.
- Salvia appendiculata E.Peter
- Salvia arabica Al-Musawi & Weinert
- Salvia aramiensis Rech.f.
- Salvia arborescens Urb. & Ekman
- Salvia arduinervis Urb. & Ekman
- Salvia arenaria A.St.-Hil. ex Benth.
- Salvia areolata Epling
- Salvia areysiana Deflers
- Salvia argentea L.
- Salvia ariana Hedge
- Salvia aridicola Briq.
- Salvia aristata Aucher ex Benth.
- Salvia arizonica A.Gray
- Salvia arthrocoma Fernald
- Salvia articulata Epling
- Salvia aspera M.Martens & Galeotti
- Salvia asperata Falc. ex Benth.
- Salvia assurgens Kunth
- Salvia atrocalyx Epling
- Salvia atrocyanea Epling
- Salvia atropaenulata Epling
- Salvia atropatana Bunge
- Salvia atropurpurea C.Y.Wu
- Salvia atrorubra C.Y.Wu
- Salvia aucheri Benth.
- Salvia aurea L.
- Salvia aurita L.f.
- Salvia austriaca Jacq.
- Salvia austromelissodora Epling & Játiva
- Salvia axillaris Moc. & Sessé ex Benth.
- Salvia axilliflora Epling
- Salvia ayavazensis Kunth
- Salvia ayecarrenoae Mart.Gord., Fragoso & de Santiago
- Salvia aytachii Vural & Adigüzel
- Salvia azurea Michx. ex Vahl