Salvia fulgens Cav.

Horticultural & Botanical History

Introduced to Britain in 1829.  [JD].  ‘The first knowledge we gained of this splendid herbaceous plant was from a specimen that flourished in July last in the Garden of the Horticultural Society, having been raised, in 1829, from seed collected on the mountains of Mexico by - Graham, Esq., a gentleman who has enriched our Gardens with several fine things, and who has formed a most interesting herbarium of Mexican mountain plants.  About the same time, a plant that had been communicated by Mr. H Silverlock, nurseryman, Chichester, produced its blossoms in the same collection.  Notwithstanding the unfavourable summer we have just experienced, a summer so cold that the natives of milder climates have scarcely been able to support a feeble existence, and in which the common Salvia splendens has not produced a single flower, this species has displayed its nodding heads of dazzling scarlet in all their native beauty.  On this account the Cardinal Sage may be expected to prove a most valuable addition to our autumnal flowers; for if it succeeds thus well in a summer almost unparalleled for cold, wet, and gloom, what may not be hoped from it in a more genial season?  It grows about 3 feet high, and strikes freely from cuttings.  The constitutional difference between Salvia splendens and fulgens is, no doubt, due to the very dissimilar localities they naturally occupy.  While the former is a native of Brazil, the latter grows abundantly in cold situations between Tolucca and Tianguillo, at an elevation of between nine and ten thousand feet above the sea.’  [BR f.1356/1830].  LBC 1910/1833.

History at Camden Park

It may have been obtained from Loddiges’ Nursery as it was included among desiderata in letters dated 6th January 1845 [MP A2933-2, p.28] and 16th April 1846 [MP A2933-1, p.147], although there is no record of its receipt.

Notes