Salvia argentea, L.

Tutin, T. G., Heywood, V. H., Burges, N. A., Moore, D. M., Valentine, D. H., Walters, S. M. & Webb, D. A., 1972, Flora Europaea. Volume 3. Diapensiacea to Myoporaceae, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press : 190

15. S. argentea L. , Sp. Pl. ed. 2, 31 (1762)

( S. verbascifolia sensu Hayek , non Bieb.).

Perennial 30-100 cm. Stems erect, much branched, eglandular-villous below, glandular and more or less leafless above. Leaves simple, ovate or oblong, irregularly lobed or toothed, lanate when young. Verticillasters with 4-8 flowers. Bracts | - | as long as calyx, green. Calyx 8-10 mm, glandular-viscid, with somewhat spinose teeth. Corolla 15- 35 mm, white, tinged with pink or yellow; upper lip strongly falcate. In = 20. S'. Europe, eastwards to Bulgaria. Al Bu Gr Hs It Ju Lu Si.

Plants from the Iberian peninsula have been treated as subsp. patula (Desf.) Maire in Jahandiez & Maire, Cat. Pl. Maroc 3: 642 (1934). They have the leaves usually cordate at the base (rarely rounded), and the calyx more zygomorphic. Similar plants occur elsewhere in the range, and they are not worth subspecific rank.