Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Asterids: Lamiids: Lamiales
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Salvia lyrata
FAMILY
Lamiaceae
Go to FSUS key
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
Read more about Lyreleaf Sage at Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
The tubular flowers have a long lower lip that serves as a landing pad for pollinators such as eastern carpenter and leafcutter bees. When they land, the bees often brush their body against the split stigma projecting out of the flower. This deposits pollen from a different Lyreleaf Sage onto the sticky tips of the stigma. Continue reading at Southern Piedmont Natural History.
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Salvia lyrata
FAMILY
Lamiaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 164-22-001:
Salvia lyrata FAMILY Lamiaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Salvia lyrata
COMMON NAME:
Lyreleaf Sage, Cancer-weed
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
)
USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913 pnd_saly2_001_lvd
)
JK Marlow jkm150226_711
February Pickens County SC
)
JK Marlow jkm150226_711b
February Pickens County SC
Calyx 7-10mm long; mericarps 2-2.3mm long, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).
)
Gill Newberry gn04_s_lyrata_habitat
April
)
Gill Newberry gn04_salvia_lyrata_inflor
April
Corolla about 1" long, usually 6 flowers per node, per Wildflowers of Tennessee (Carman, 2005).
)
JK Marlow jkm0504f_19
April McCormick County SC
Roadside
)
JK Marlow jkm200403_3432
April Greenville County SC
Tall Pines Wildlife Management Area
)
Keith Bradley kab_salvia_lyrata_02744
April GA
Terminal raceme 4-12" long; flower clusters widely separated, per Wildflowers of Tennessee (Carman, 2005).
)
Keith Bradley kab_salvia_lyrata_09088
April Collier County FL
Big Cypress National Preserve
A tubular 2-lipped corolla, upper lip shorter than the broad lower lip, per Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005).
)
Roxanna Martin rlm42411_54
April Spartanburg County SC
Stigma unequally two-cleft, exserted, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).
)
Roxanna Martin rlm42411_70
April Spartanburg County SC
Calyx's upper lip is 3-toothed, lower 2-toothed; teeth are spine-tipped, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).
)
JK Marlow jkm0405n_33
May Greenville County SC
Bunched Arrowhead Heritage Preserve
Basal leaves deeply lobed and long-stalked, forming a rosette, per Newcomb's Wildflower Guide (Newcomb, 1977).
)
JK Marlow jkm150509_006b
May Dawson County GA
Dawson Forest WMA
Flowers growing in few-flowered whorls in an interrupted spike, per Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998).
)
JK Marlow jkm230525_3464
May Haywood County NC
Blue Ridge Parkway
)
JK Marlow jkm230525_3465
May Haywood County NC
Blue Ridge Parkway
)
Roxanna Martin rlm52111_203
May Spartanburg County SC
Mericarps dark brown, finely warted, dull, obovoid to ellipsoid, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).
)
Sharleen Johnson shj_1293665811427559
December Charleston County SC
Francis Marion National Forest
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Salvia lyrata
FAMILY
Lamiaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Salvia lyrata
FAMILY
Lamiaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 164-22-001:
Salvia lyrata
FAMILY
Lamiaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Salvia lyrata
1307
Forb
Perennial
Habitat: hammocks, lawns, roadsides, dry to mesic woodlands and forests, floodplains, calcareous barrens, per Weakley's Flora
Native to the Carolinas & Georgia
Common
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.
LEAVES:
Simple
Basal rosette & opposite
FLOWER:
Winter/SpringFall
Blue/Violet
(rarely white)
Bilaterally symmetrical
2-lipped 5-toothed calyx
2-lipped tubular corolla
2 fertile exserted stamens & possibly some sterile stamens
Superior ovary
Bisexual
FRUIT:
Spring/Summer
Schizocarp of mericarps
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
- All About South Carolina Wildflowers (Midgley, 1999) p246
- Gardening with Native Plants of the South (Wasowski & Wasowski, 1994, 2020) p112
- Great Smoky Mountains Wildflowers (Campbell, Hutson, Sharp, & Hutson, 1962) p030
- Newcomb's Wildflower Guide (Newcomb, 1977) p094
- Wildflowers of the Atlantic Southeast (Cotterman, Waitt, & Weakley, 2019) p417
- Wildflowers of the Carolina Lowcountry (Porcher, 1995) p198
- Wildflowers of the Eastern United States (Duncan & Duncan, 1999) p081
- Wild Flowers of NC, 2nd edition (Justice, Bell, & Lindsey, 2005) p218
- Field Guide to the Wildflowers of Georgia (Chafin, 2016) p242
- Wildflowers of Tennessee (Carman, 2005) p226
- Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005) p269
- Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998) p147
- Wildflowers of the Sandhills Region (Sorrie, 2011) p339
If a search such as "Carex leptalea var. leptalea" doesn't deliver the results you want, try "Carex leptalea".
Or, to minimize chances of a misspelling, try just "Carex le".
Less is more: If "pencil flower" doesn't deliver the results you want, try "pencil".