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Salvia africana; photograph Ryan Rattray, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF CC BYRyan Rattray, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF

Salvia africana L.

African Blue Sage; Aromatic Sage; Blue Sage; Purple sage

Lamiaceae · Cape Provinces

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Salvia africana, photograph Ryan Rattray, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFSalvia africana, photograph Ryan Rattray, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFSalvia africana, photograph Ryan Rattray, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFSalvia africana, photograph Ryan Rattray, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFSalvia africana, photograph Ryan Rattray, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFSalvia africana, photograph Ryan Rattray, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF 24 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
4.3°C
Record low 1.9 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
28°C
Feb at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
720mm
10 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
16–53DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet winters: the rain comes October to March (April to September at the habitat), read as a winter growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Salvia africana is a heavy branched aromatic perennial shrub native to the coast of the Cape Provinces of South Africa, found on coastal dunes and in nearby rocky hills up to 600 m elevation. It grows to 60–90 cm, with round grayish stems covered with hairs that release a strong scent when brushed. The leaves are a soft grey-green, lighter on the underside, and elliptical shaped. The inflorescences reach 30 cm long, with 2-6 flowers in each whorl, ranging from pale blue to pale violet or pink.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Salvia africana", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Salvia

Salvia is the largest genus of plants in the sage family Lamiaceae, with just under 1,000 species of shrubs, herbaceous perennials, and annuals. Within the Lamiaceae, Salvia is part of the tribe Mentheae within the subfamily Nepetoideae. One of several genera commonly referred to as sage, it includes two widely used herbs, Salvia officinalis and Salvia rosmarinus.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Salvia", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a winter growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (558 mm of 730 mm) falls in April to September, cooler than the year (wet-season mean 13.6 °C against a yearly mean of 16.5 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: October to March.

Rain

730 mm in the median year at the habitat, 558 mm of it April to September. Wettest month July at 126 mm, driest month February at 21 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 346 mm to 1,843 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 720 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 730 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, southern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 16 to 53 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 15, the highest 90th-percentile month 55).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 4.3 °C, the absolute minimum 1.9 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 38.8 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 6.9 °C in July (across the grid cells of the range 4.5 °C to 11.2 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 27.5 °C in February (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 4.3 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 56 to 61% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -112 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, southern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Salvia africana through the yearWarmest month February, mean daily high 28 °C; coldest month July, mean nightly low 6.9 °C; 730 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, southern hemisphere.0°10°20°30°40°38.8° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER1.9° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250300mm rainDLI 16–53RH 56–61%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 275 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C27 / 21–3028 / 22–3126 / 21–2923 / 19–2519 / 17–2117 / 15–1816 / 14–1716 / 15–1818 / 16–2021 / 17–2423 / 19–2725 / 20–29
Night °C16 / 15–1717 / 15–1815 / 14–1713 / 11–1511 / 8–148 / 5–127 / 5–117 / 5–119 / 7–1211 / 9–1313 / 11–1515 / 13–16
Rain mm23 / 8–5721 / 7–4229 / 14–6260 / 27–13490 / 42–237116 / 54–294126 / 57–29897 / 45–24769 / 31–18041 / 18–11832 / 14–9026 / 13–74
DLI53 / 50–5547 / 44–4939 / 35–4027 / 26–2920 / 18–2116 / 15–1818 / 17–1923 / 22–2531 / 30–3341 / 39–4349 / 46–5153 / 50–55
RH %56 / 51–6257 / 50–6258 / 50–6359 / 52–6360 / 54–6259 / 55–6159 / 55–6161 / 56–6260 / 55–6258 / 53–6157 / 52–6156 / 52–61
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 275 grid cells holding the 1268 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 2474:3973 (-33.725, 18.675). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 1.9 °C, 1st-percentile night 4.3 °C, 99th-percentile day 38.8 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 275 distinct grid cells holding 1268 of the 1268 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2474:3973 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -33.50_18.750, lapse-corrected -112 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 85 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeCape Provinces · introduced: Canary Is. · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker-33.875, 18.625 · in the densest population, 1313 records (98% of those in range)
Kew's description“shrub” · “subtropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 1339 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 1268 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 196 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 8 km away. 20 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 71 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 1339 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Salvia africana, photograph 1did not loadSalvia africana, photograph 2did not loadSalvia africana, photograph 3did not loadSalvia africana, photograph 4did not loadSalvia africana, photograph 5did not loadSalvia africana, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: Ryan Rattray, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF (6).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Sparaxis tricolor Sparaxis tricolor Harlequin-flower Photo: CC BY, Neal KelsoCrassula fallax Crassula fallax Crassulaceae Photo: CC BY, Kim GordonBabiana nervosa Babiana nervosa Strict Bobbejaantjie Photo: CC BY, Karen EichholzNemesia barbata Nemesia barbata Blue-beard Lionface Photo: CC BY-SA, Jeanette ClarkeIndigofera incana Indigofera incana Longstipule Indigo Photo: CC BY-SA, Tony RebeloDrosanthemum hispifolium Drosanthemum hispifolium Fuzzy Dewfig Photo: CC BY, Jared Zachary Herman

Other Salvia 225 in the reference

Salvia abrotanoides Salvia abrotanoides Caspian Sage Photo: CC BY, Станислав ЧувановSalvia adenophora Salvia adenophora Oaxaca Red Sage Photo: CC BY-SA, Eugenio PadillaSalvia aethiopis Salvia aethiopis African sage Photo: CC BY, Aleksei BaushevSalvia amethystina Salvia amethystina Lamiaceae Photo: CC BY, Nicolás Baresch UribeSalvia amplexicaulis Salvia amplexicaulis Lamiaceae Photo: CC BY, Zac PetersonSalvia angustiarum Salvia angustiarum Lamiaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedSalvia apiana Salvia apiana White sage Photo: CC BY, Trevor HardingSalvia argentea Salvia argentea Silver sage Photo: CC BY-SA, Jeanette ClarkeSalvia arizonica Salvia arizonica Desert indigo sage Photo: CC BY, Sam Kieschnick Salvia aucheri Waving Sage Salvia aurea Salvia aurea Brown Sage Photo: CC BY, jk6000Salvia aurita Salvia aurita African Blue Sage Photo: CC BY-SA, Suvarna Parbhoo Mohan all 226 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Arischrada moluccella; Arischrada molucellae; Crolocos colorata; Megyathus acetabulosum; Salvia acetabulosa and 13 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Lamiaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Cape Provinces
Wild records
1339 in range · 196 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22; "Salvia africana-caerulea" not shown: a scientific name Kew or this reference holds
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 44 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (21 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 23 at a herbarium; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -33.50_18.750, lapse-corrected -112 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 18 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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