Salvia polystachiaCav.

WFO wfo-0000301959 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Salvia polystachia, photographed by Jake Rehage
fig. a Jake Rehage, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-11-21 / obs. 170339082
Salvia polystachia, photographed by José Belem Hernández Díaz
fig. b José Belem Hernández Díaz, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 168595799
Salvia polystachia, photographed by Luc Wyn
fig. c Luc Wyn, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 166521419
Salvia polystachia, photographed by Jake Rehage
fig. d Jake Rehage, CC0 1.0 / obs. 109071293
Salvia polystachia, photographed by Jake Rehage
fig. e Jake Rehage, CC0 1.0 / obs. 109064130
Salvia polystachia, photographed by Jake Rehage
fig. f Jake Rehage, CC0 1.0 / obs. 109071835
Salvia polystachia, photographed by José Belem Hernández Díaz
fig. g José Belem Hernández Díaz, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 90719519
Salvia polystachia, photographed by Zoltán Stekkelpak
fig. h Zoltán Stekkelpak, CC0 1.0 / obs. 56976354

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 12 botanical countries

Regions where Salvia polystachia is native: Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panamá Mexico CentralMexico GulfMexico NortheastMexico NorthwestMexico SoutheastMexico SouthwestCosta RicaEl SalvadorGuatemalaHondurasNicaraguaPanamá
Native distribution of Salvia polystachia, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Mexico Central MXC NORTHERN AMERICA
Mexico Gulf MXG
Mexico Northeast MXE
Mexico Northwest MXN
Mexico Southeast MXT
Mexico Southwest MXS
Costa Rica COS SOUTHERN AMERICA
El Salvador ELS
Guatemala GUA
Honduras HON
Nicaragua NIC
Panamá PAN

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Also published as 22 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Salvia brevicalyx Benth.
  • Salvia caesia Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd.
  • Salvia cataria Briq.
  • Salvia compacta var. irazuensis Kuntze
  • Salvia compacta var. latifolia Kuntze
  • Salvia compacta var. oerstedtiana Kuntze
  • Salvia durandiana Briq. ex T.Durand & Pittier
  • Salvia eremetica Cerv. ex Lag.
  • Salvia flexuosa C.Prezl ex Benth.
  • Salvia ghiesbreghtii Fernald
  • Salvia igualensis Fernald
  • Salvia lenta Fernald
  • Salvia lilacina Fernald
  • Salvia lineatifolia Lag.
  • Salvia menthiformis Fernald
  • Salvia polystachia subsp. durandiana Briq.
  • Salvia polystachia var. albicans Fernald
  • Salvia polystachia var. philippensis Fernald
  • Salvia polystachia var. potosiana Briq.
  • Salvia polystachia var. seorsa Fernald
  • Salvia polystachya subsp. caesia (Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd.) Briq.
  • Salvia reducta Epling

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.