Salvia disermas

Salvia disermas, commonly the large blue sage or in Afrikaans the teesalie (tea salvia), is a soft plant, between shrub and herbaceous perennial, reaching 1,2 m in height. The plant may be erect or sprawling, generally covered in soft hairs. It grows from a creeping rhizome and forms a woody rootstock. The stems are square in cross-section.

Spaced whorls of small flowers grow in erect spikes from the upper stem-tips. The hairy calyces are flask-shaped, not enlarging in the fruiting stage but sometimes changing colour with age.

The flowers are pale mauve or white with dark spots. They are two-lipped, the typical sage flower-shape. The upper, hooded lip curves down, the lower one extends nearly horizontally, ending in a shallow, open cup.

The style and anthers may protrude downwards and forwards from the hood. The filaments of sage flowers are generally hinged. This makes them mobile, facilitating pollen deposits upon visiting pollinators, mainly insects.

The flower becomes from 12 mm to 25 mm long. Flowers are present during a long blooming season, starting in late winter and continuing through autumn.

The species is distributed in the southwest and central parts of South Africa, mainly the Western and Northern Cape, North West and the western Free State.

The habitat is sandy flats and slopes, also along seasonal and permanent watercourses and valleys of the arid inland region. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (Manning, 2009; Shearing and Van Heerden, 2008; iSpot; http://pza.sanbi.org; http://redlist.sanbi.org).