Is this salvia divinorum?

[Koolmoto]

Hey guys, my neighbors have these two giant bushes of what I think may be salvia divinorum. Im not sure it it is salvia, but if it is I am a very lucky guy. I've tried salvia andI love it. I have compared pictures of it from www.erowid.com and it looks very similar but with 2 small differences. I live in California where it is not very hot and humid maybe this has something to do with it looking different? Anyway, the 2 main differences are: 1. The little purple flower buds are fuzzy and in pictures from erowid they are not. 2. the leaves are now as round as in erowid and are slender. Im sorry but the plant i scanned is one day old and is a little withered, so imagine the leaves being not curled up and flat. <img border="0" src= "http://www.angelfire.com/creep/askdja/salvia.jpg">


I hope some of you can identify this plant! Thanks! <img border="0" src= "smileys/smiley14.gif">

[Mellow_natts]

Most likely not. Salvia divinorum belongs to the sage familly of plants and chances are your neighboris growing plain cooking sage.

[BA]

You can buy Salvia, both perennial and annuals, in the spring and summer,from any nursery, feed store, evenWalMart has them. They are very hardy and easy to grow.





BA

[Shroomerite42]

Wal-mart would have salvia plants? If they do, that's awesome. When would be the best time to go look for them there?

[BA]

Now, or later this month or next, try other places that sell plants. You can buy seeds too.


Ba

[Shroomerite42]

If I'm going to go to some local place to buy it exactly what do I say? Should I just say "Hey do you carry Salvia divinorum?", I doubt they just carry it for no reason, they're pbbly knowledgeable about it and know what it is used for. But if I asked to special order it, which I think they could, would they do that and order it?

[scyrusurcys]

Can someone please tell me if this plant is Salvia Divinorum? Thank you!

[serotonin]

im gonna have to say no fora number ofreasons, the tips of leaves are too rounded, the colour seems to be too much of a brilliant green. the leaves are too smooth, and the little jagged things coming out the sides of the leaves (on the bottom half of them) don't look right.


all these things however could be attributed to the fact that it is clearly a very young plant. sorry i can't be of more help, im not much of a gardener.

[wednesday]

this plant does not resemble even a young salvia plant, in my own experiences

i hope this isn't something you bought, that was advertised as salvia

Paul

[scyrusurcys]

Wednesday, no I did not purchase this plant as the intent to recieve S. divinorum. It's been sitting on my back porch for a while now, and I've never even thought about it as possibly being salvia. From the few pictures I've seen, I'd have to say it does look fairly similar - especially the leaf at the 7 o'clock mark in picture 2. I didn't think I would be that lucky to own a salvia plant that I wasn't aware of, tho

[Gijs_b]

It doesn't even look like a salvia plant... too bad...

[BA]

These are pictures of salvia from erowid.

BA

[Hotboxed151]

I was told that i bought salvia at my local plant store. I am beginning to have second thoughts as to if this is salvia Dinivorum or if it is a plant with no effects.

[psychedelaholic]

Doesn't look like salvia divinorum to me, looks more like salvia splendens or something similar from the salvia genus


Salvia splendens

Salvia divinorum is quite distinct:


Salvia divinorum flowers


Salvia divinorum foliage

[Abrad]

Definetely not Salvia D. I actually has some of these plants in my garden, I'll try to find out what they are called.

[Alfa]

did you ever find out?

[Potter]

Alfa did you seriously revive this thread to find out what Hotbox had? That plant with round stems and alternating leaves that is clearly not a sage species?

Bloody hell if I can remember the name of this common ornamental standard, but it's sold in, like every nursery anywhere...

[cra$h]

I thought that the salvia you buy in stores are NOT divinorum? Or atleast was an extremely rare find.

[Potter]

No, it doesn't exist in stores any more. Not a chance in hell of finding it.

[thepieman1]

Remember that nobody will have Salvia Divinorum by accident.

It is so rare that the only reason anyone would have it is if they knew perfectly well what it was and what it was used for. The same goes for mixed seed bags except more so because the Divinorum species is reportedly very hard to get seeds from.

[helikophis]

I don't want to be annoying here, but I feel I need to state the obvious.

Since the late 18th century, in botanists and other natural historians have used a system of naming for organisms called "binomial nomenclature", literally meaning 'two-name naming'. In this system, every species is given a unique, two-part Latin name, a "generic" name and a "specific" name, which relate to its taxonomical position. The generic name is capitalized, the specific name is not. Usually they are followed by an abbreviation of the name of the person who first described the species.

The generic name is shared by a group of closely-related species - there can be from one to hundreds of members of a particular genus. For instance, there is only one living Homo - that's the generic name for human, but the largest genus of frogs, Pristimantis, has about 400 members. The specific name is usually an adjective, and as such more than one species may have the same specific name, but no two species will have the same combination of genus and species, e.g. there are many species called "sativa", meaning 'cultivated', but there is only one Oryza sativa, only one Avena sativa, only one Cannabis sativa.

The diviner's sage is a particular species of plant, and as such it has been given a particular scientific name: Salvia divinorum [Epling & Játiva].

As with all scientific names, it has two parts, the generic, "Salvia", meaning 'sage', and the specific, "divinorum", meaning "of the seers". Salvia is a very large genus! There are nearly a thousand species sharing the generic name Salvia, many of which are common, well-known and widely used cooking and ornamental herbs, as well as common wild plants. All of these have their own specific names, and none of them are Salvia divinorum!

Salvia divinorum is a very very rare plant, it is not well known or widespread, and it is not commercially sold for the horticultural industry!

YOU WILL NOT BUY Salvia divinorum IN A GARDEN STORE.

Seriously. Not ever. Never. It's not there. Don't even bother.

For one thing, it doesn't reproduce by seed. For another, it isn't suitable for many garden environments. For another, it isn't a particularly attractive plant.

There are many varieties of Salvia sold for horticulture. Some of them may even be psychoactive. But none of them (NONE OF THEM) are Salvia divinorum.

In my opinion, the diviner's sage should NEVER be referred to as "Salvia", at least by people who understand biological naming conventions. This unfortunate habit has led to widespread confusion. There is no reason for it!

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Good informative post