Salvia sclarea
Salvia sclarea
Paskulak
Biennial or short-lived perennial with erect rather coarse quadrangular stems to 1 m, much branched above, pubescent to hirsute below, glandular above. Leaves simple, broadly ovate to ovate-oblong, c. 8-14 x 5-10 cm, cordate, pubescent, crenate-erose; petiole 3-9 cm, Inflorescence paniculate, many-flowered; verticillasters 2-6-flowered, distant. Bracts ± obscuring flowers, pink to mauve, membranous, ovate, acuminate, 15-35 x 10-25 mm. Pedicels 2-3 mm, erecto-patent. Calyx ovate-campanulate, c. 10 mm, to 13 mm in fruit, scabrid, with sessile glands; upper lip tridentate, mucronate. Corolla with a lilac upper lip and cream lower lip 20-30 mm; tube abruptly ventricose, squamulate; upper lip falcate. Stamens B. Nutlets rounded trigonous, 3 x 2 mm. 2n = 22. Fl. 5-8. Rocky igneous slopes, mixed deciduous and coniferous woodland, shale banks, fields, roadsides, s.l.-2000 m.
Throughout most of Europe, S.W. & C. Asia. Distinctive on account of its habit and the large coloured bracts, often exceeding the flowers; a fairly oligomorphic species.
