I'm thinking it is a Salvia mexicana, based on the leaf shape and slightly fuzzy clear green stems. S. tubilflora (formerly called S. oppositiflora) is similar, but the foliage is strongly scented and the stem sticky.

I doubt it is S. littae, whose leaves are more pointed and longer.

Thanks Richard. I think you are right about it being a mexicana. Could it be Lolly Jackson? All the Mexicana do well for me, it's just that my others are 5-6 ft tall with large leaves that I started to have doughts.

I still have s. tubiflora from you, it is still doing good. I also have s. holloway that does well here in the south with protection & blooms in winter.

Helena

Helena,
I found myself in the same situation earlier this year after losing a tag on one of my cuttings from last winter. Looked like a mexicana but everything about the plant seemed a just little small in scale compared to my other mexicanas. Drove me nuts for two months, but it eventually bloomed and turned out to be S. mexicana 'Snowflake'.
Karen

Karen, I have a bad habit sometimes of not labeling cuttings when I happen to break a stem later I can't remember from which plant it was. I've been fooled a couple of times that way! Some take a long time till they bloom too.
Helena

I do the same,and this can cost me. The hardest ones to separate are selections of the same species, especially mexicanas and leucanthas. I have some success in differentiating greggiis, guaraniticas, and microphyllas, at least into groups with similar foliage and habit. The foliage of purpureas, iodanthas, and the unknown Smith College blue sage also are hard to tell apart.

I have a whole "nursery" now blooming with "Byron Flint" : S. mexicana x S. hispanica that I didn't know what the cuttings were until now. I couldn't give them away because I didn't know what they were.

Here is a note posted to me about the hybrid you mentioned:

"About that Salvia 'Byron Flynt'. Are you sure about that parentage? I do remember when a form of "Salvia hispanica" was circulating in this area in the late 1980's. It really was Salvia mexicana, as I remember.
'Byron' sure looks like a form of mexicana, without anyone else present, to me.

It is a nice plant.

Cheers,
Ginny Hunt
Suncrest Nurseries"
Tue, 01 Nov 2005

Hey Ginny,
I hybridized Salvia Byron Flynt via Salvia Mexicana Limelight and Salvia Hispanica. I know your message is 2 years old, but maybe you will read it. I had Limelight and Hispanica growing next to each other. I crossed them because both were vigorous yet had flaws: Hispanica was too leggy yet cold tolerant; Limelight was not too cold tolerant and short lived. I crossed the two and got seven seedlings. Out of the seven seedling two were vigorous. I grew those two plants. One became leggy, yet the other was very bushy and very floriferous with nice dark calyxs. I propagated this plant and named it Byron Flynt after my plant growing grandfather. I gave it to my friends at Emerisa Gardens here is Santa Rosa to sell. I hope you also sell it at your wholesale store. But, this plant is so vigorous that nurseries have complained that it grows out of the 1 gallon containers before they can sell them all. I hope this has been helpful!

pedoman

Ginny won't see the post, since I just copied her response to me. I was wondering what your Salvia hispanica looked like. Most herbarium specimens have very dense spikes like many of the northern Agastaches: they look like brushes you would use on test tubes.

There are mislabeled images of Salvia hispanica on th4e web. Both S. columbariae and S. hispanica are called chia, and the one used for chia pets, which is much cheaper than S. columbariae is the most abundant, and can be quite weedy.

Check the link to the Linnean herbarium for an image of hispanica. Does yours look like that, with respect to the spike density? The flowers should be quite small as well.

http://linnaeus.nrm.se/botany/fbo/s/salvi/salvhis.html.en

Here is a link that might be useful: Salvia hispanica at the Illaean Herbarium

Rich, I know this is pathetic, but I just read your message......over a year later. I didn't get a notification. I did something wrong with my account, apparently. Anyway, if you get this message, regarding the picture in the link you mentioned: The leaves look the same, but the there seems to be more flowers in the flower spike than in my old Hispanica. My Hispanica came from Western Hills and it was a leggier and more cold tolerant version of Mexicana. It had dark calyxes. The flowers were the same size as Mexicana, but darker purple. Now, usually when I hybridize a plant the resulting plant is typically sterile, but Byron Flynt is not sterile at all. That leads me to believe that the Hispanica used as the father of Byron Flynt is a form of Mexicana. The seedlings, though, never completely look like the parent, except for the dark calyxes. An uglier Mexicana. I hope that answers your question and sorry I didn't get the message sooner.Dan