Today's Salvias of the Day is Salvia (Salvia coerulea 'Sapphire Blue').

This plant can be found in the ATP Plant Database at:
Salvia (Salvia coerulea 'Sapphire Blue') .

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Salvia (Salvia coerulea 'Sapphire Blue')

Salvia coerulea is an older name for S. guaranitica, which is no longer applicable.

Since when, Kermit? All of the taxonomic databases state that S. guaranitica is a synonym of S. coerulea.

The species coerulea has been superseded by guaranitica, which is the recognized name. For a long time. It is indeed a synonym, but an older one that has been replaced.

I can agree that it's a shame when a recognized name is classiifed as a mere synonym of the accepted name, but these things do change periodically. If the taxonomists ever reclassify S. guaranitica as an accepted name, our database entries will be updated to reflect this change.

The last time that I checked there was disagreement between the different taxonomic databases as to which was the accepted name and which was the synonym.

The Catalogue of Life and The Plant List call S. guaranitica a synonym of S. coerulea. ITIS doesn't list either one of these species, and GRIN lists S. guaranitica as an accepted name with no synonyms, but its last update was in 2009, at which time the name was not verified. The site says NAME NOT VERIFIED, in bold face and all caps.

The CoL, on the other hand, cites 5 September 2014 as the date of its latest taxonomic scrutiny of this name as a mere synonym of S. coerulea.

I haven't found any taxonomic sources listing S. coerulea as a mere synonym of S. guaranitica. Wherever S. coerulea is listed, it's classified as an accepted species name.

All of these species names are subject to change, however, and our entries will change if and when the taxonomists change their minds.