There are a number of microphyllas that are stoloniferous. S. microphylla `La Trinidad' is probably the most prominent one.

Richard
Thanks! I looked on Tony Avents website the picture
did not match what I have any Ideas?

San Carlos Festival is the only really stoloniferous one I have.

These may be more underground stems than stolons, but the difference would be subtle. If I see small scale-like leaves at the nodes, and if these are relatively close together, this is probably an underground stem.

Some Salvia x jamensis forms may also be stoloniferous.

OK, I agree - the use of the term 'stoloniferous' (at least by me) is just laziness - they are stems which spread underground and root at various points along their length. (With San Carlos Festival, anyway, which is the only one I have which has this habit.)

I've seen stems deep underground on Orange Door. San Carlos Festival is the microphylla that I've grown the longest and so far no stolons. Last year was my first with La Trinidad and it certainly seemed to spread undergound and did seem to meet Richard's stoloniferous definition.

Definitions

Just to bore you folks.

Referrring to 'The Cambridge Illustrated Glossary of Botanical Terms' I find:
'A stolon is a lateral stem growing horizontally at ground level, rooting at the nodes and producing new plants from its buds, as in the the genus Fragaria (strawberry).'

This is very similar to 'repent'which means 'creeping along the ground.'

The ilustration in the book shows a repent stem rooting at the nodes very much like a stoloniferous stem. The only difference is that the stoloniferous stem tends to curve more before hitting the ground. Looking at my San Carlos Festival it would seem to be more repent than stoloniferous!

In the above book the term 'soboliferous' is defined as 'forming clumps'. The associated diagram shows stems travelling underground, rooting as they go, and sending up stems above ground. Taking a quick look at the Botanical Glossary site (http://www.plantstogrow.com/Botany/alpa_list/list_2.htm), this has stoboliferous defined as 'producing suckers or lateral shoots from the ground, usually applied to shrubs or small trees'. I guess Salvia blepharophylla would be an example of this. Whether Salvia stolonifera (syn oaxacana) is also slightly soboliferous I have yet to decide. It certainly does not seem to fit the description of being stoloniferous!

I won't tell you how the aforementioned Botanical Glossary site describes stoniferous because it seems to be a mix of stloniferous, soboliferous and repent!

Best we just enjoy the plants and forget about definitions!

Why do they DO this!! They seem to behave differently for everybody.....I have had the plant I believe to be San Carlos Festival for about 6 years and right from the start it has sent up new shoots at a distance from the parent (up to about 40 cm) which could be separated by late summer with independent roots on. None of the others I have in the microphylla/greggii group do this, though some do send new stems from underground close to the main plant (I don't have La Trinidad or Orange Door).

The plant is fairly short for a microphylla, 60-70 cm, with largish wavy leaves with a greyish cast, large bright, deep pink flowers; it's quite distinctive but I may of course have it under the wrong name. Because of its habit it eventually forms a bush wider than it's high.

Do you recognise it?

Maybe we don't all have the same plant, but my San Carlos Festival reappears all over the place. Another is the very large microphylla 'Kew Red'....also known as grahamii, neurepia, and other silly names.

I seriously wonder if San Carlos Festival is in fact a hybrid. It is almost invasive, and the flower-heads are very compact. It has never set seeds for me, so I wonder if it is a sterile hybrid. But of what???

Hope this confused you even more,

Robin.

I guess plants are a bit like people - no two the same! Also planting depth and soil constituency/mulching must have some effect.

I got my San Carlos Festival as a cutting from Robin. Yours sounds very much the same Drusilla.

Yes, I think my SCF is the same as Robin's - I saw his recently and it looked like mine. So two of us seem to agree on the ID but of course it might all have come from the same stock in the first place.....Mine doesn't make seeds either and I agree it could well be a hybrid (though microphyllas do seem to be very variable - or maybe lots of the named forms are actually hybrids!).

Jim, I think you made it all up but 'soboliferous' sounds like the term for my SCF!!!

Now that you mention it I've never noticed any seedlings under them either. In early days when I didn't have so many greggii and microphylla I suspected them of providing pollen to nearby plants, but now that I think of it microphylla Wild Watermelon may have been responsible in those early days. When it comes to hybrids I'm out of my depth. When a seedling comes up next to a greggii that looks more like a microphylla I assume I have a hybrid but many of those hybrids would appear to be microphylla if I didn't know better. On several occasions I've seen nurseries apologizing for selling sages that were mislabeled, including a case where San Carlos and La Trinidad were swapped.

Salvia microphylla San Carlos Festival was originally collected and distributed by Yucca-Do, where I got mine. The flower color is very close to Dark Dancer and Raspberry Royale. It handles well all combinations of hot and cold, and wet and dry for me. It has a distinct habit of forming gnarly stems and for these often getting rather bare when it is not actively growing during summer heat and winter cold.

Don't have Dark Dancer but my SCF is brighter and a bluer pink than R Royale (also bigger flowers - a little). Doesn't get bare stems. Describe your leaves, Rich! These seem to me the most distinctive feature apart from the stolons, sorry sobols(?)!

I started this so, my Salvia that needs identification is
not a 100% Soboliferous,Stoloniferous or even a Rhizome, no stems appear above ground and they don't develop leaves just at the end.It sends out a underground runners some right next to the plant while others are a foot or better distance from the original. I will try and post a pic as soon as it cools down enough for it to bloom.The leaves are deltoid and dark green (not glaucus) which differs from the typical
yellow green of all my other S microphyllas. I also realize the botanical terms are different ie: American vs UK.My SCF came from Yucca Do also and remains a solitary plant no sobols or additional plants coming up. My SCF does not produce seed either Maybe it is not pollen fertile. So using my British heritage I will sign off straight away.
Art Petley

Drusilla:

Here is an image of both San Carlos Festival and La Trinidad:

This could be my SCF - colour is not exact but I wouldn't expect it to be; leaves don't show the characteristic waviness but at the tip of a shoot like this they might not! Leaf colour & texture seems about right.