Salvia L.

Genus composed of some 980 herbaceous or shrubby species in tropical, subtropical and temperate areas. In North Africa it is represented by about 30 species, of which only S. lavandulifolia
y S. fruticosa they can be considered shrubs or subshrubs, distributed throughout the Mediterranean and less arid parts of the northern and central Sahara. The rest of species with woody stems, at least at the base, rarely exceed 50 cm in height, they are:

S. balansae Noë ex Coss., up to 70 cm in height, with stems arachnoid-glandular on the lower part, and with glandular and eglandular hairs on the upper part; leaves linear or linear-oblong, crenulate, lanate-white on the underside and laxly glandular on the upper side; flowers up to 25 mm, white or blueish. It is endemic to N of Algeria (Dahra littoral, eastern Saharan Atlas and the Aures Massif).

S. interrupta Schousb. has large flowers, up to 35 mm long. It is endemic to Morocco, where it grows on calcareous rocky slopes and cleared forests between 400-1,500 m in altitude, in the western Anti-Atlas, High Atlas, mid Atlantic Morocco (subsp. interrupta) and the western Rif [subsp. paui (Maire) Maire].

The following 3 species are characterised by having small flowers, less than 9 mm in length; the last 2 species also present a campanulate calyx and straight corolla upper lip.

S. chudaei Batt. & Trab. (Tamahaq: Abhihawt) is a subshrub that can reach 60 cm in height, highly branched, stems with eglandular retrorse hairs, narrowly linear leaves, verticillasters of the inflorescence usually with 4 flowers and blue-violet corolla. It grows in the mountain ranges of central Sahara between Algeria, Libya and Chad (massifs of Ahaggar, Tibesti, etc.), in sandy or stony beds of wadis at 1,000-2,000 m in altitude.

S. deserti Decne. (Ara.: Shoheibi, ghobbeisha) is closely related to S. chudaei but barely exceeds 30(40) cm in height, with leaves ovate-oblong, and verticillasters of the inflorescence usually with 8 flowers. It grows in wadis of the deserts of S Israel, Palestine, Saudi Arabia and the Sinai Peninsula.

S. aegyptiaca L. (Ara.: Ra’alah. Tamahaq: Safsaf) is a subshrub up to 20(40) cm in height, highly branched, with leaves up to 55 × 8 mm, linear-elliptic and serrate or crenate, flower calyx with abundant capitate glandular hairs and corolla c. 8 mm, pale lilac. Its range extends from the Cape Verde Islands and the Canary Islands to the W and up to India to the E. This is the species of the genus with the greatest range in North Africa, found in arid or desert areas across all countries.

Fairly common species and with variable distributions, in principle none are considered threatened. Currently, they have not been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. In Algeria S. balansae is included in its List of protected non cultivated flora (Executive Decree 12-03 on 4-Jan-2012).

Updated by: B. Valdés.