Salvia glutinosa (Lamiaceae) Naturalized in Southeastern New York

Abstract

Salvia glutinosa L. (Lamiaceae) is a perennial herb native to Europe and western Asia, where it grows in wooded mountainous areas. The plant grows 50–100 cm tall, with opposite, toothed leaves with hastate bases, yellow corollas with brown markings, and sticky glandular hairs on the leaves, stem, and calices (Tutin et al. 1972). Whereas several other species of Salvia are native and introduced in northeastern North America (Gleason and Cronquist 1991), there are heretofore few known herbarium records of naturalized S. glutinosa in the region. I have found no report of it in regional floras, databases, the scientific literature, or in my communications with experts on the regional flora. Salvia glutinosa is used in horticulture under various names including Jupiter’s sage, Jupiter’s distaff, and sticky sage. I encountered a large, naturalized population of Salvia glutinosa in October 2009 while working on lands near and along the Appalachian Trail in the southeastern part of the Town of Dover known as Duell Hollow, Dutchess County, New York. The plants were growing in a maple-oak forest with occasional weedy openings and areas with dense to scattered Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii DC.) at approximately 180–235 m a.s.l. I also found plants in a meadow (near the forest edge), at the edge of a grove of Norway spruce [Picea abies (L.) H. Karst.], and on rock ledges. I estimated the total area of the occurrence as approximately 70 acres (28 ha) or more. One dense patch covering approximately 20 acres (8 ha) occurred mostly southwest of the intersection of the Appalachian Trail with Leather Hill Road (approximate population centroid, NAD 1983 UTM zone 18N: 62683E 461018N). This patch occurred on well-drained soils that were formed in glacial till, RHODORA, Vol. 113, No. 954, pp. 220–224, 2011 E Copyright 2011 by the New England Botanical Club