About Salvia lanceolata Lam.
Salvia lanceolata, commonly called lanceleaf sage, is a perennial shrub native to a small coastal area at the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. It typically grows in sandy ground at sea level, as well as on dry hills and flat ground up to 1000 feet in elevation. Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, a pioneer in evolutionary theory, first described and formally named this species 'lanceolata' in 1791. Swedish botanist Carl Peter Thunberg, who was delayed in South Africa while traveling to Japan, first collected the plant nearly twenty years earlier, alongside approximately 3,000 other plant species that he would later describe. It was not until 1800 that Thunberg gave this plant the specific epithet 'nivea', which means 'snowy' in Latin, a name chosen to refer to the color of the plant's foliage. Under botanical nomenclature rules, Lamarck's name holds priority because he was the first to formally publish a name for the species. Salvia lanceolata is a heavily branched shrub that reaches 3 feet in height and 2 to 4 feet in width. Its stems become woody and light tan as they age. The leaves are lanceolate, evergreen, and thick textured, with a dove-gray color that has a green undertone. The 0.5 inch long calyx expands to 1 inch after the plant's flowers are fertilized, and turns pink during this growth. The 1.5 inch flowers are an unusual dull rosy brownish color. The plant blooms sparsely over a long period, from May through November. When crushed, the leaves release a light fragrance similar to lemon pepper; in South Africa, these leaves are used for cooking, most commonly to prepare fish.
