Guava sage

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Guava sage
Guava sage

Guava sage

Systematics
Euasterids I
Order : Mint family (Lamiales)
Family : Mint family (Lamiaceae)
Subfamily : Nepetoideae
Genre : Sage ( salvia )
Type : Guava sage
Scientific name
Salvia darcyi
J. Compton

The guava sage ( Salvia darcyi ) (English: Darcy's Mexican say , Red mountain say ) is a plant type from the family of the mint (Lamiaceae). The species was only discovered in a mountain region in Mexico in 1988 and has since been widespread as an ornamental plant in gardens. The robust perennial becomes 60–150 cm high and in the temperate European climate bears scarlet flowers from June to autumn . The light green, delta-shaped leaves are hairy and resinous-sticky. The whole plant smells pleasantly aromatic of herbs and tropical fruits ( guavas ). The botanist James Compton named the plant after the British botanist John d'Arcy a few years after the trip they made together in the region in 1991.

description

The guava sage is a deciduous perennial. It becomes 60–150 cm high and grows in width with short runners . All above-ground parts of the plant are hairy and sticky when touched. The stems are branched at the top, quite brittle and fragile. The stalked, at the base 4–8 cm wide and serrated leaves are delta-shaped (triangular) to heart-shaped, about as long as wide. The leaves are tomentose-haired, gray-green and veined like a network on the upper side .

The inflorescence is usually 15–30 cm long, sometimes up to 60 cm long, and is an upright raceme with pseudo whorls at relatively wide intervals. Usually 6 flowers sit together in the form of two pairs with 3 flowers each. Two small bracts sit at the base of the flowers. The five glandular hairy sepals are fused funnel-shaped and end with two lips. The five light orange-red petals have grown together to form a zygomorphic corolla and form a slim, approximately 2.5 cm long flower tube, which also ends with two lips. The upper crown lip protrudes about 1.5 cm over the flower tube, the lower crown lip is three-lobed and curved downwards. The thin stylus is zweigabelig and projects slightly from the flower. Two arched stamens lie on the inside of the upper corolla lip. The Klaus fruits disintegrate into four egg-shaped, smooth, dark brown nuts (Klausen) 3 mm long.

ecology

The guava sage is one of the ornithophilic plants: hummingbirds pollinate the flowers, ie they touch the pollen sacs and stigmas while they drink nectar from the flowers . Bees are also attracted, but do not pollinate the flowers. The flowers are also visited by butterflies such as Agraulis vanillae .

Occurrence

The guava sage is native to a small area of ​​the Sierra Madre Oriental mountain range in the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León . The plant grows on the eastern mountain side at an altitude of 2,000–2,800 m, where the climate is temperate, relatively humid and rainy and there are also winter frosts. In the natural location, sunny forest clearings in mountain gorges between limestone cliffs are populated. The fine earth-rich soils there are porous and moderately nutritious. They mostly stay fresh even in summer.

use

Inflorescences of the guava sage

The guava sage is particularly suitable for places in full sun in Mediterranean gardens, herb beds and rock-stepped areas that are not too dry. It grows quickly and is easy to care for, provided the location is sunny and the soil is well drained. Because of the semi-woody, brittle stems, a location protected from the wind should be chosen. Like many other types of sage , the guava sage has lush foliage and, compared to that, only sparse inflorescences. The plant is nevertheless considered particularly worthy of a garden due to its pretty leaf structure and the extremely warm flower color, which is unusual for summer garden perennials. On the one hand, the flower color is considered not to be easy to integrate, on the other hand, it can be combined with any red that is in the vicinity, for example with the red of cap fuchsias (Phygelius) and red-flowering species of the genus scented nettles (Agastache) . The leaves and flowers can be used for herbal teas and for flavoring desserts.

For a Mexican plant, the guava sage is surprisingly hardy. Information on winter hardiness varies between −7 ° C ( zone 9a ) and −20 ° C ( zone 6b ). At least the new shoot is prone to late frosts. In addition, waterlogging is generally not tolerated, least of all in winter. The guava sage is very tolerant of different soils and pH values .

Systematics

Leaves of the guava sage

The first publication of Salvia darcyi was made in 1994 by James Compton . The plant was originally discovered in 1988 by Carl Schoenfeld and John Fairey, who were collecting plants for their landscape garden in Mexico. A little later, a few nurseries were already offering the guava sage under different names. In 1991 Schoenfeld and Fairey showed the plant in its natural location to a British expedition, in which James Compton also took part. The guava sage is assigned to the Salvia subgenus Calosphace . It consists of nearly 500 species native to America , with centers of biodiversity in Mexico , the Andean region , southern Brazil and Argentina . The species seems to be closely related to the sage species Salvia stolonifera , which also has runners and a very similar flower morphology .

Web links

Commons : Salvia fulgens  - album with pictures

swell

  • James Compton: Plant portraits: 241.SALVIA DARCYI: Labiatae . The Kew Magazine, 11 (2), pp. 52-55, JSTOR, Whiley 1994: (jstor.org)
  • Betsy Clebsch: The New Book of Salvias. Timber Press (Portland) 2003, ISBN 0-88192-560-8 .
  • galasearch, plant database of garden architecture: (galasearch.de) .
  • John Whittlesey: The Plant Lovers's Guide to Salvias. Timber Press (Portland) 2014, ISBN 978-1-60469-419-2 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c James Compton: Plant portraits: 241.SALVIA DARCYI: Labiatae . The Kew Magazine, 11 (2), pp. 52-55, JSTOR, Whiley 1994: (jstor.org)
  2. ↑ Petra Wester: Ornithophily in the genus Salvia L. (Lamiaceae) . Dissertation at the Department of Biology at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, 2007: (uni-mainz.de)
  3. ↑ Petra Wester, Regine Claßen-Bockhoff: Pollination Syndromes of New World Salvia Species with Special Reference to Bird Pollination. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden, 98 (1), pp. 101–155, Missouri Botanical Garden Press 2011: (doi.org)
  4. ↑ Encyclopedia of Life: Salvia darcyi J. Compton : (eol.org)
  5. ↑ a b Salvia darcyi / Guava Sage at galasearch: (galasearch.de)
  6. ↑ a b Betsy Clebsch: The New Book of Salvias. Timber Press (Poertland, Cambridge) 2003, ISBN 0-88192-560-8 , p. 93.
  7. ↑ John Whittlesey: The Plant Lovers's Guide to Salvias. Timber Press (Portland) 2014, ISBN 978-1-60469-419-2 , p. 84.
  8. ^ The Royal Horticultural Society: Perennials, The Great Encyclopedia. Dorling Kindersley Verlag, Munich 2015, ISBN 978-3-8310-2752-1 , p. 413.
  9. ^ The Garden Conservancy: The John Fairey Garden. (gardenconservancy.org)
  10. ↑ Jay B. Walker, Kenneth J. Sytsma, Jens Treutlein, Michael Wink: Salvia (Lamiaceae) is not monophyletic: implications for the systematics, radiation, and ecological specializations of Salvia and tribe Mentheae. American Journal of Botany 91 (7): 1115-1125. Botanical Society of America 2004: (doi.org)