Flora-Fauna

Salvia viscosa Jacq.

First published in Miscellanea Austriaca 2: 328 (1781)
(Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 3, Pl. LXXXV nº 1; 1983)

• Life-form & habit: Perennial herb, 60–100 cm tall; stem simple, erect, pubescent and distinctly viscid, especially toward the apex, ending in a long raceme or a somewhat branched panicle.

• Leaves: Opposite, thinly papillary, especially beneath; blades ovate-oblong, broadly cordate at the base, obtuse or acuminate, sinuately undulate, the lower ones long-petiolate, the upper shortly petiolate to sessile.

• Inflorescence & flowers: Verticillasters of 4–6 flowers, well spaced; flowers relatively small. Calyx subsessile, strongly papillose-glandular, upper lip shorter with three minute teeth, lower lip with two ovate-mucronate teeth. Corolla pink to pale violet, twice the length of the calyx (about 15 mm), upper lip slightly arched.

• Fruit: Nutlets small, smooth, dark brown when mature.

• Phenology: Flowers from May to July.

• Habitat & elevation: Abandoned and rocky terrains, often among shrubs and on limestone slopes, from 200 m up to ca. 1 400 m.

• Lebanese distribution: Recorded in the lower and middle regions of Mount Lebanon — Nahr el-Kelb, Tripoli, Beit Méri, Deir el-Qamar, Kahalé, Ghazir, Broummana, ʿAbey, Bhamdoun, Sir, Hasroun, Dimane, Qannoubine, Jabal Kneissé, ʿAqoura, Bcharré, Cedars of Hadeth, ʿAïn Zehalta, Maaser Chouf, Zahlé, and Barouk.

• Native range: Lebanon–Syria, Türkiye.

• ⚠️ Taxonomic note: Easily recognised among Lebanese sages by its tall viscid-pubescent stems, sinuately undulate cordate leaves, and pinkish corolla; often confused in older herbaria with S. hierosolymitana but differs by its green, viscous calyx with short blunt teeth and pale lilac corollas, whereas S. hierosolymitana has a reddish, non-viscous calyx with long subulate teeth and deep red corollas.