Salvia scapiformis
Content
Description
Dwarf rhizomatous herb, 10-50 cm high.
Leaves sparsely hairy, very variable, nearly all radical, (in Mal.) odd-pinnatifid, sometimes bipinnatifid, ovate or broadly ovate in outline, 5-10(-18)cm long;
Flowers 4-7 in a verticil-laster, the whorls 1-1.5 cm apart, in a raceme-like inflorescence borne on a terminal scape;
Stamens exposed, lower connective-branches reduced.
Distribution
Asia-Temperate, Asia-Tropical: Philippines (Philippines present), N. Luzon present, Ryu Kyu Is present, Southern America: Argentina Northeast (Formosa present)
China, Formosa, Ryu Kyu Is.; in Malesia: Philippines (N. Luzon).
Notes
The affinity of this species is with S. yunnanensis WRIGHT from Yunnan and with S. saxicola BTH. in WALL. from Nepal.
The Philippine specimens have, as far as we have seen, only pinnatifid leaves, whereas the 'normal' form from S. China and Formosa has cordate-ovate leaves which are coarsely crenate. In Formosa (GRESSITT 442) and the Ryu Kyu Is. (HATU-SIMA 19267), however, there are also plants with 1-2-pinnate leaves of which the terminal lobe then ± resembles in shape the 'normal' leaf. In Luzon hitherto only the pinnate-leaved specimens are found (ELMER 8637, BS 33145, 40233, PNH 17973, 19792), one of them having even distinctly bipin-nate leaves (BS 40233, distributed as a n.sp. in sched. by MERRILL).
Pinnate leaves are peculiar to several Salvia species. The occurrence of pinnation in the leaves of S. scapiformis in Formosa and Luzon we ascribe to juvenile flowering, due to habitat (cliffs or damp dark mossy forest with poor soil). Similar pinnation is also found in Hawaiian scandent Stenogyne; a comparable case is found in the Composite Ainsliaeapteropoda; here Malesian specimens with incised leaves have been described as a distinct species, A. reflexa.
In a recent study of the Formosan Salvias T. C. HUANG & J. T. Wu () distinguished besides the simple-leaved S. scapi-formis HANCE three allied species and did not mention the Philippine form. In trying to identify the latter with their key it appears that the differences of the Formosan taxa are minute, that the key contains discrepancies with the illustrations and descriptions, and furthermore that in the Philippine form the length of the hairs inside the calyx varies from 0.8-1.2 mm. In an other, biosystematical study () J. T. Wu & T. C. HUANG studied their cytology, palynology, hybridization, and chromosomes which supported the minuteness of the differences, one entity appearing to be a tetraploid. In my view no more than one species is concerned, possibly segregated into not even sharply distinct local races.
The Philippine specimens have, as far as we have seen, only pinnatifid leaves, whereas the 'normal' form from S. China and Formosa has cordate-ovate leaves which are coarsely crenate. In Formosa (GRESSITT 442) and the Ryu Kyu Is. (HATU-SIMA 19267), however, there are also plants with 1-2-pinnate leaves of which the terminal lobe then ± resembles in shape the 'normal' leaf. In Luzon hitherto only the pinnate-leaved specimens are found (ELMER 8637, BS 33145, 40233, PNH 17973, 19792), one of them having even distinctly bipin-nate leaves (BS 40233, distributed as a n.sp. in sched. by MERRILL).
Pinnate leaves are peculiar to several Salvia species. The occurrence of pinnation in the leaves of S. scapiformis in Formosa and Luzon we ascribe to juvenile flowering, due to habitat (cliffs or damp dark mossy forest with poor soil). Similar pinnation is also found in Hawaiian scandent Stenogyne; a comparable case is found in the Composite Ainsliaeapteropoda; here Malesian specimens with incised leaves have been described as a distinct species, A. reflexa.
In a recent study of the Formosan Salvias T. C. HUANG & J. T. Wu () distinguished besides the simple-leaved S. scapi-formis HANCE three allied species and did not mention the Philippine form. In trying to identify the latter with their key it appears that the differences of the Formosan taxa are minute, that the key contains discrepancies with the illustrations and descriptions, and furthermore that in the Philippine form the length of the hairs inside the calyx varies from 0.8-1.2 mm. In an other, biosystematical study () J. T. Wu & T. C. HUANG studied their cytology, palynology, hybridization, and chromosomes which supported the minuteness of the differences, one entity appearing to be a tetraploid. In my view no more than one species is concerned, possibly segregated into not even sharply distinct local races.
Citation
J. T. Wu & T. C. HUANG 1975 – In: Taiwania: 77
HANCE 1923 – In: En. Philip.: 413
KUDO 1929 – In: Mem. Fac. Sc. & Agr. Taihoku Un.: 175
FUJITA 1970 – In: Acta Phytotax. Geobot.: 113
Merr. 1910 – In: Philip. J. Sc.: Bot. 228
HANCE 1888: Bot. Mag.: t. 6980
KENG 1969: p. 161. – In: Gard. Bull. Sing.: f. 29 g-i