Prairie sage

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Prairie sage
Prairie sage

Prairie sage

Systematics
Euasterids I
Order : Mint family (Lamiales)
Family : Mint family (Lamiaceae)
Subfamily : Nepetoideae
Genre : Sage ( salvia )
Type : Prairie sage
Scientific name
Salvia azurea
Lam. ex Vahl

The prairie sage ( Salvia azurea ) (English: azure blue say , prarie say , pitcher say ) even late autumn sage and Autumn sage called, is a plant type from the family of the mint (Lamiaceae). The plant is native to the central and southern parts of the USA as far as Mexico , where it inhabits dry prairie and savanna locations . The hardy, frugal perennial is often used as an ornamental plant because of its deep blue flowers and the late flowering period .

description

The prairie sage is a deciduous, 30–150 cm high perennial with flexible, branched stems that are initially upright in spring and then overhanging in summer. The plant forms short runners and a strongly branched root system over 2 m deep. The gray-fluffed, 4–8 cm long leaves are lanceolate, serrate or toothed. The plant hardly smells. The thin stems bald a little from below, there are no basal leaves. The numerous, pure blue (rarely white) flowers are 1.5 to 2 cm long. From August to October loose pseudo whorls of 4–6 individual flowers appear on spike-shaped or panicle inflorescences. The sepals are fused together like a funnel and end with two lips. The five light sky-blue petals have grown together to form a zygomorphic corolla and form a short flower tube that opens into a wide, three-lobed, hanging lower crown lip and a short, stiff upper crown lip. Only a few flowers bloom at the same time in a dummy whisk. The Klausen fruit consists of one or two light brown, resin-soaked nuts (Klausen). They are about 3 mm long, elliptical and flattened.

The number of chromosomes is 2n = 20.

ecology

The flowers of the prairie sage are attractive to bees , migratory monarch butterflies and other insects , which is also due to the long flowering time into late autumn. The anthers mature before the stigma is receptive to the pollen in order to prevent self-pollination . The anthers carrying pollen are at the front end of a slender thread . There is a sterile dust bag at the rear end. Bees land on the lower lip and push their way under the upper lip to the nectar glands at the base of the flower tube. When entering the flower tube, the head presses on the sterile anthers. As a result, the thread swings like a seesaw and loads pollen from the fertile anthers onto the bee's back. The leaves of the prairie sage serve as food for various moths , e.g. B. the caterpillars of Lintneria eremitus and Lintneria eremitoides .

Occurrence

The prairie sage is native to the central and southern parts of the United States . The plant colonizes dry, sunny, rather poor locations on loamy, gravelly and clay soils. It grows on roadsides, in forest clearings, in the prairie and savannah , in fields and pastures. It has now become rare in some US states, such as B. in the US state of Illinois , where it is on the list of threatened species.

use

Habit of the prairie sage

The prairie sage is a valuable late autumn bloomer in the perennial bed, but also a bit "capricious" because it does not bloom reliably every year. A sunny, warm location is required, but some shade at the edge of the wood is tolerated. The plant is quite tolerant of different soil types and soil moisture (dry to fresh). The soil should be permeable, however, so that the roots do not start to rot. The shortening of the shoot tips at the beginning of the growing season leads to a more branched, more steadfast shape.

The prairie sage is sufficiently hardy in Central Europe , but autumn planting should be avoided. Data on winter hardiness vary between −23 ° C ( zone 6 ) and −34 ° C ( zone 4 ).

Systematics

Prairie sage

The species was first described in 1788, then several times in the 19th and 20th centuries under different names. R. Govaerts examined the existing literature in 2003 and helped describe Salvia azurea Lam. ex Vahl for recognition. None of the previously described subspecies is still recognized today. There are two known varieties of prairie sage:

  • Salvia azurea var. Azurea (English azure blue sage ) in the eastern and south-eastern part of the range
  • Salvia azurea var. Grandiflora Benth. (Eng. pitcher sage ) in the west and northwest of the distribution area. Flowers with a longer tube and a wider lower lip. The English name pitcher sage was formed from the previously common synonym Salvia pitcheri and honors the American doctor and botanist Zina Pitcher (1797–1872).

The prairie 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 .

swell

  • Richard Wynia: Pitcher Sage, Plant Fact Sheet . Natural Resources Conservation Services, United States Department of Agriculture 2009: (plants.usda.gov) .
  • Betsy Clebsch: The New Book of Salvias. Timber Press (Portland) 2003, ISBN 0-88192-560-8 .
  • John Whittlesey: The Plant Lovers's Guide to Salvias. Timber Press (Portland) 2014, ISBN 978-1-60469-419-2 .
  • Leo Jelitto, Wilhelm Schacht , Hans Simon: The outdoor ornamental perennials, manual and lexicon of garden perennials. Volume 2: I to Z. 5th, completely revised edition. Verlag Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart (Hohenheim) 2002, ISBN 3-8001-3265-6 .

Web links

Commons : Plains Sage ( Salvia azurea )  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Richard Wynia: Pitcher Sage, Plant Fact Sheet . Natural Resources Conservation Services, United States Department of Agriculture 2009: (plants.usda.gov) .
  2. ↑ Entry in the Chromosome Counts Database: (ccdb.tau.ac.il)
  3. ↑ Azure Blue Sage, Salvia azurea Michx. ex Vahl , Encyclopedia of Life: (eol.org)
  4. ↑ Blue Sage , Illinois Wildflowers: (illinoiswildflowers.info)
  5. ↑ Richard Hansen , Friedrich Stahl: The perennials and their areas of life. 6th edition. Verlag Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart (Hohenheim) 2016, ISBN 978-3-8001-8385-2 , p. 334.
  6. ^ Piet Oudolf, Henk Gerritsen: Dream Plants for the Natural Garden. Frances Lincoln, London 2011, ISBN 978-0-7112-3462-8 , p. 133.
  7. ↑ Betsy Clebsch: The New Book of Salvias. Timber Press (Portland, Cambridge) 2003, ISBN 0-88192-560-8 , p. 42.
  8. ^ Leo Jelitto, Wilhelm Schacht , Hans Simon: Die Freiland-Schmuckstauden, manual and lexicon of garden perennials. Volume 2: I to Z. 5th, completely revised edition. Verlag Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart (Hohenheim) 2002, ISBN 3-8001-3265-6 , p. 807.
  9. ^ The Royal Horticultural Society: Perennials, The Great Encyclopedia. Dorling Kindersley Verlag, Munich 2015, ISBN 978-3-8310-2752-1 , p. 412.
  10. ↑ John Whittlesey: The Plant Lovers's Guide to Salvias. Timber Press (Portland) 2014, ISBN 978-1-60469-419-2 , p. 61.
  11. ↑ Enumeratio plantarum, vel ab aliis, vel ab ipso observatarum, cum earum differentiis specificis, syn. Volume 1, pp. 253, 1804 ( online )
  12. ↑ Salvia azurea , World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP): (wcsp.science.kew.org)