Jupiter’s distaff
Scientific Name: Salvia glutinosa L.
Family: Lamiaceae
MORPHOLOGY
Growth habit and size: Perennial herbaceous plant, sticky, with an intense aromatic odor, brown and woody rhizome, reaching heights between 40 and 120 cm.
Stem: Simple and erect stems, pubescent at the base, sticky at the top.
Leaves: Leaves with a long, grooved petiole, glandular-hairy on both sides, a hastate blade at the base, and coarsely serrated margins.
Flowers: Inflorescences in verticillasters with 2-6 fragrant yellow flowers; calyx narrowly campanulate 12-16 mm, rigid, with glandular hairs, sticky; bilabiate tubular corolla widening at the throat into 2 yellow lobes, about as long as the tube, dotted with reddish-brown spots. It blooms from May to September.
Fruits and seeds: The schizocarpic fruit is a microbasarium (tetranutlets) with 4 obovoid or ellipsoid mericarps (nutlets), brown.
DISTRIBUTION AND HABITAT
It grows throughout Italy except in the major islands and in Puglia, from 100 to 1,600 m. It grows in the clearings of broad-leaved forests and along roadsides.
INTERESTING FACTS
The stamens behave like tiny levers: when insects land, penetrating the flower in search of nectar, they activate a mechanism that flips the stamen arm carrying the anthers onto the insects’ back, spilling pollen onto their backs.
Gum can be obtained from the plant.
Photos: Kindly provided by Claudio Farinati
