What's in the Name?

I got some seeds and on the envelope it said:

Salvia sp.  

Salvia officinalis = Sage with herbal uses growing in my potager

What does sp. stand for? I found this very useful article by Susan Mahr about Botanical and Latin names. I learned that:

Unspecified or unknown specie in the genus of for instance Salvia would be written as Salvia sp. To signify more than one species in the genus, it is written Salvia spp. Another thing.. once the genus has been used in a paragraph, or is understood, it can be shortened, such as S. splendens. and S. officinalis, good to know

What's In A Name?

Understanding Botanical or Latin Names

By Susan Mahr, University of Wisconsin – Madison

“All living organisms are classified into various groups with different degrees of relatedness. In the plant kingdom, the various levels of classification include class, order, family, genus and species. The genus and species names together comprise the scientific name that every plant (and animal, too) is given when first described by a scientist. These species names are recognized by botanists, horticulturists and gardeners no matter where you go in the world.”

What the Latin name means

acaulis                 stemless

alba                     white

angustifolia         narrow-leaved

annua                  annual

argentea             silvery  ag silver

arvensis              of the field

aurantiaca          orange

... find the rest here

I have planted 14 Salvias (Sage)  now for 2010 some of them are perennial and most of them are blueish purple in the colour they are:

 Salvia amplexicaulis, Salvia dolichantha, S. forskaohlei, S. glutinosa, S. hians, S. nemorosa,  S. officinalis ' Berggarten', S. przewalskii, S. staminea, S. transsylvania, S. certicillata, S. virgata, S. columbariae (Chia) and last the Salvia sp. the unknown one.

I always bought plants of Salvia before and this is the first time I sow them from seed, very exiting.


Thank you Nancy  Soliloquy  for choosing to put Tyra's Garden on you sidebar this week.

Photo: YCLS