Salvia yangii
Credits
Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles
Recommended citation
'Salvia yangii' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
Synonyms
- Perovskia atriplicifolia Benth.
Infraspecifics
Editorial Note
Treated by Bean under the synonym Perovskia atriplicifolia. For a discussion of the taxonomic revisions that resulted in the suppression of the genus Perovskia, see the genus entry to Salvia.
The text below is adapted to reflect the updated taxonomy.
A deciduous, semi-woody plant 3 to 5 ft high, with a sage-like odour; branches long, stiffly erect, covered with a white, close down. Leaves opposite, 1 to 2 in. long, 1⁄3 to 1 in. wide, rhomboidal or slightly obovate, tapered at both ends, coarsely toothed, grey-green and slightly downy; stalk 1⁄12 to 1⁄3 in. long. Panicles terminal, 9 to 12 in. long, produced in August and September, and composed of numerous slender, opposite, leafless spikes, 2 to 5 in. long. Flowers beautiful violet-blue, 1⁄3 in. long, produced in whorls; corolla two-lipped, tubular at the base with a five-lobed spreading limb 1⁄3 in. across; calyx shaggy with white hairs. Fertile stamens two, with contiguous anther-cells. Nutlets four, oblong-ovoid. The whole inflorescence is covered like the stem with a white, powder-like down, which brings the colour of the blossoms into greater prominence. Bot. Mag., t. 8441.
Native of the W. Himalaya and Afghanistan. It covers large areas in the Chitral Valley, to the exclusion of other vegetation. Although woody at the base, the stems made during the summer die back considerably during winter. It should be planted in good soil, in a group of at least half a dozen plants, and makes a pretty effect in late summer. A heat-lover, it should have the sunniest position available. The plants should be pruned over in spring, cutting off the dead portion and perhaps a little more. It is easily propagated by cuttings in early June by taking young shoots when they are 2 or 3 in. long. Seed is rarely produced in this country.
One of seven species belonging to a small clade nested within Salvia s.l. formerly segregated as the genus Perovskia distributed from Central Asia to the N.W. Himalaya (the name commemorated V. A. Perovski, Governor of the Russian province of Orenburg when the genus was founded).
There is a group of S. yangii in the R.H.S. Garden at Wisley, on the dry wall by the entrance.
'Blue Spire'
A particularly fine variant of S. yangii, with distinct foliage. The uppermost leaves are narrowly elliptic-oblong and pinnately lobulate, the lower ones up to 2 in. long, cut more than half-way to the midrib into lobes which are themselves lobulate. It is of upright habit, to about 3 ft high, and bears its flowers in large panicles. It has been suggested that ‘Blue Spire’ is a hybrid between S. yangii and S. abrotanoides. But in the Kew Herbarium there are specimens from Kashmir and Lahul (where S. abrotanoides does not occur) which, though they lack the lower leaves, seem to agree quite well with ‘Blue Spire’. It was distributed under its present name by Messrs. Notcutt and received an Award of Merit when exhibited by them on August 28, 1963. It came originally from Germany as Perovskia atriplicifolia erecta.