Species
+

Salvia pratensis L.

Introduced sage, Meadow Clary, Meadow Sage, Western Meadow Sage

Climate known 55 photographs Temperate garden plant
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Salvia pratensis, the meadow clary or meadow sage, is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae, native to Europe, western Asia and northern Africa. The Latin specific epithet pratensis means "of meadows", referring to its preferred habitat. It also grows in scrub edges and woodland borders.

Text from Wikipedia, “Salvia pratensis”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

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.

Text from Wikipedia, “Salvia”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Lamiaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Great Britain, Austria, Belgium +25
Wild records
749 in range· 146 open

At a glance

Warmest month
24°C
Jul, mean day; nights 15 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
849mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Jul 83 mm (CHELSA)
Light
6–36DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Grouped as a temperate garden plant by the genus Salvia, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (May to December in the northern hemisphere). Habitat rain 849 mm a year, wettest July at 83 mm, driest February at 49 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 6 to 36 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -11.1 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Gallitrichum pratense (L.) Fourr.; Plethiosphace pratensis (L.) Opiz; Salvia aprica Dupuy, 1868; Salvia ceratophylloides L., 1767; Salvia pratensis var. caerulea Schrad. and 2 more.

Cultivation

Grouped as a temperate garden plant by the genus Salvia, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). The table holds no figure for this group, which spans too much for one minimum; the cold floor is the habitat's alone, and no prose comes from the table.

Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (May to December in the northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (628 mm of 849 mm) takes 8 months, May to December. Mean temperature moves 19.2 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: November to June.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: 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 gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 849 mm a year, wettest July at 83 mm, driest February at 49 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

849 mm a year at the habitat, 628 mm of it May to December. Wettest month July at 83 mm, driest February at 49 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 600 mm to 1339 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

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

Light Open sky over the habitat: 6 to 36 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 6 to 36 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 4, the highest 90th-percentile month 40).

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.

Warmth and air Cold floor -11.1 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -11.1 °C, the absolute minimum -21.9 °C, about 86 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 29.7 °C. Monthly means: coldest night -3.1 °C in January (across the envelope cells -6.1 °C to 0.7 °C), warmest day 23.9 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -11.1 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 58 to 66% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 4 °C in Jan to 24 °C in Jul; mean night from -3 °C in Jan to 15 °C in Jul. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 849 mm of rain a year, most in Jul. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 559 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -21.9 °C and the 99th-percentile day 29.7 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°frost29.7° 99th-percentile day (undated)-21.9° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100125150mm rainDLI 6–36RH 58–66 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 559 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C4 / 2–76 / 4–810 / 8–1214 / 12–1619 / 16–2122 / 19–2424 / 22–2724 / 21–2619 / 18–2214 / 13–178 / 7–114 / 2–7
Night °C-3 / -6–1-2 / -5–11 / -1–35 / 3–69 / 7–1112 / 11–1415 / 13–1714 / 13–1711 / 9–137 / 5–92 / 0–5-2 / -5–2
Rain mm55 / 29–8649 / 30–7460 / 39–9357 / 38–10481 / 62–13082 / 64–13183 / 56–13679 / 59–13680 / 51–12778 / 39–12975 / 46–11570 / 42–108
DLI8 / 5–1114 / 10–1721 / 17–2529 / 27–3234 / 32–3736 / 33–3935 / 32–4031 / 28–3522 / 19–2615 / 12–179 / 6–126 / 4–9
RH %65 / 60–6862 / 59–6560 / 57–6358 / 56–6059 / 57–6159 / 57–6158 / 55–6159 / 56–6161 / 59–6364 / 62–6566 / 62–6866 / 61–69

Each figure is the median across the 559 grid cells holding the 744 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 860:3748 (46.975, 7.425). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -21.9 °C, 1st-percentile night -11.1 °C, 99th-percentile day 29.7 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 559 distinct grid cells holding the 744 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 860:3748 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 47.00_7.500, lapse-corrected -198 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 554 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 every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeGreat Britain, Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, Corse, France, Spain, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Kriti, Romania, Turkey-in-Europe, Yugoslavia, Belarus, Baltic States, Krym, Central European Russia, East European Russia, South European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Ukraine· introduced: Ontario, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Washington, Wyoming, Illinois, Kansas, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, Virginia
Kew's description“perennial” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker48.171, 15.92 · in the densest population, 192 records (26% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 749 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 146 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 717 km away. 1 record outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 5 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 749 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Salvia pratensisSalvia pratensisSalvia pratensisSalvia pratensisSalvia pratensisSalvia pratensisSalvia pratensisSalvia pratensis

Photographs: no rights reserved · CC0 (2); (c) Bobo-X, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Patrick Hacker, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4); (c) Zac Peterson, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Photographs: iNaturalist and GBIF media did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Salvia pratensis, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Pollen and gene flow in fragmented habitats
Manja M. Kwak, O Velterop, Jelte van Andel (1998) · Applied Vegetation Science
Native or Exotic? Double or Single? Evaluating Plants for Pollinator-friendly Gardens
Sarah A. Corbet, Jennie N. Bee, Kanchon K. Dasmahapatra, Stephan W. Gale (2001) · Annals of Botany
THE EFFECTS OF POPULATION SIZE AND PLANT DENSITY ON OUTCROSSING RATES IN LOCALLY ENDANGEREDSALVIA PRATENSIS
R. van Treuren, R. Bulsma, N. Joop Ouborg, W. van Delden (1993) · Evolution
Population structure of Salvia pratensis in relation to vegetation and management of Dutch dry floodplain grasslands
Stein Joar Hegland, Merijn Van Leeuwen, J. Gerard B. Oostermeijer (2001) · Journal of Applied Ecology
Sensory Profile, Shelf Life, and Dynamics of Bioactive Compounds during Cold Storage of 17 Edible Flowers
Sonia Demasi, Maria Gabriella Mellano, Nicole Mélanie Falla, Matteo Caser (2021) · Horticulturae
The Effects of Population Size and Plant Density on Outcrossing Rates in Locally Endangered Salvia pratensis
R. van Treuren, R. Bijlsma, N. Joop Ouborg, W. Van Delden (1993) · Evolution

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Salvia 27 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence search API
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media did not answercarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: api.gbif.org not asked: offline re-derivation
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 4 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.