Salvia hians

Life-forms

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Eudicots
Cladus: Core eudicots
Cladus: Asterids
Cladus: Lamiids
Ordo: Lamiales

Familia: Lamiaceae
Subfamilia: Nepetoideae
Tribus: Mentheae
Subtribus: Salviinae
Genus: Salvia
Subgenus: S. subg. Sclarea
Sectio: S. sect. Drymosphace
Series: S. ser. Miltiorrhizaee
Species: Salvia hians
Name

Salvia hians Royle ex Benth., Bot. Misc. 3: 373 (1833).
Synonyms

Heterotypic
Salvia macrophylla Tausch, Flora 25: 282 (1842), nom. illeg.
Salvia himalaica W.Thomps., Nursery Cat. (W.Thompson) 1886(Suppl.): 7 (1886).
Salvia hians var. exannulata E.Peter, Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 39: 177 (1936).

Distribution
Native distribution areas:

Asia-Tropical
Indian Subcontinent
East Himalaya, Nepal, West Himalaya.

References: Brummitt, R.K. 2001. TDWG – World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, 2nd Edition
References
Primary references

Royle, J.F., 1833. Bot. Misc. 3: 373
Additional references

Govaerts, R.H.A. 2003. World Checklist of Selected Plant Families Database in ACCESS: 1-216203. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. [unavailable for the public] Reference page.

Links

Govaerts, R. et al. 2022. Salvia hians in World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published online. Accessed: 2022 May 11. Reference page.
Hassler, M. 2022. Salvia hians. World Plants: Synonymic Checklists of the Vascular Plants of the World In: Roskovh, Y., Abucay, L., Orrell, T., Nicolson, D., Bailly, N., Kirk, P., Bourgoin, T., DeWalt, R.E., Decock, W., De Wever, A., Nieukerken, E. van, Zarucchi, J. & Penev, L., eds. 2022. Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life. Published online. Accessed: 2022 May 11. Reference page.
Tropicos.org 2022. Salvia hians. Missouri Botanical Garden. Published online. Accessed: 11 May 2022.
International Plant Names Index. 2022. Salvia hians. Published online. Accessed: May 11 2022.

Vernacular names
Deutsch: Kaschmir-Salbei

Salvia hians is a mound-forming perennial, native to the Himalayas from Pakistan to Bhutan. It is common in Kashmir, growing at elevations from 2,400 to 4,000 m (7,900 to 13,100 ft) on open slopes and forests. The plant was described in 1830 by John Forbes Royle, a British botanist living in India who studied the medicinal properties of Himalayan plants.[1]

Salvia hians forms a mound reaching 0.6 to 0.9 metres (2 to 3 ft) tall by 0.6 m (2 ft) wide. The leaves are broadly ovate and basally cordate to hastate, with the margins having a mixture of blunt and sharp teeth.[2] The leaves are slightly hairy, and grow up to 25 cm (10 in) long. The flowering stems are held well above the foliage and are much branched, and the flowers are loosely arranged into 4 to 6 flowered whorls.[3] The purple, violet to deep blue, or rarely white corolla is up to 50 mm long and 15 mm wide at the throat, and the tube is somewhat curved.[2] The calyx is 12–15 mm, very sticky and often purple or violet, and broadly obovate to campanulate in shape,[2] those plants common in cultivation have an unusual dark brownish red color.[1] The flower has a gap between the two lips, described by the specific epithet, hians, which means 'gaping',[1] with the lower lip larger than the upper.

In India, the roots of S. hians are used as a stimulant; in Nepal they are reportedly used as a remedy for dysentery.[4]
Notes

Clebsch, Betsy; Barner, Carol D. (2003). The New Book of Salvias. Timber Press. pp. 143–144. ISBN 978-0-88192-560-9.
"Salvia hians in Flora of Pakistan @". Efloras.org. Retrieved 2022-05-01.
Leo Jelitto; Wilhelm Schacht (1995). Hardy Herbaceous Perennials: A-K ; Vol. 2, L-Z. Timber Press. p. 569. ISBN 978-0-88192-159-5.
Kletter, Christa; Kriechbaum, Monika (2001). Tibetan Medicinal Plants. CRC Press. p. 127. ISBN 978-0-8493-0031-8.