Phlomis fruticosa

Phlomis fruticosa Linnaeus (Common name: Jerusalem Sage) Sp. Pl. 584 (1753)
Illust.: Bot. Mag. t. 1843 (1816)
Synonyms:
P. latifolia Miller
P. portae Kerner ex Nyman

Distribution in the wild:
Sardinia, Malta, Sicily, Italy, former Yugoslavia, Albania, Greece, Crete & Karpathos, Cyprus, Turkey and the former USSR, on rocky limestone slopes, scrub, garigue at sea level-1000 m.
Flowering in the wild: April-July
fruticosa means shrubby.

In cultivation since 1596. Although commonly called Jerusalem Sage, the shrub is not found in Palestine.
A very variable shrub with many forms of leaf shape and bracteole width. Can grow to a great size and be of considerable age. Responds well to pruning and will regenerate from hardwood.
P. fruticosa 'Butterfly' introduced in France.
P. fruticosa 'Compacta' (invalid) introduced in France.
P. fruticosa 'Crispy' introduced in France has undulating leaf edges.
P. fruticosa 'Speckles' is a variegated form from the garden of 'Covertside' in Gloucestershire.

Evergreen shrub to 40 cm-2 m, more in width. Grey woolly stellate. Lower leaf laminas elliptic, lanceolate-ovate or lanceolate, truncate or cuneate at base, entire or crenulate at margin, 3-9 × 1.6-3.5 cm; petiole to 4 cm. Floral leaves lanceolate to ovate, greenish, 4-6.5 × 1.8-5.5 cm, almost stalkless. Flower stems white felted, with 1-2 whorls, many flowered. Whorls 6-7 cm across. Bracteoles obovate or broadly lanceolate, acuminate, 10-20 × 2-7 mm, adpressed to calyces, with numerous short stellate and longer undivided weak hairs. Calyx 10-20 mm densely stellate-lanate, not ciliate; teeth 1-4 mm held horizontally. Corolla 23-35 mm, yellow to orange. Nutlets hairless or hairy. Hardy to-15°C.

Natural hybrids:

P. × cytherea K.H. Rechinger
Boissiera 13:115 (1967)
(= P. cretica C Presl × P. fruticosa Linnaeus)
Distribution: Greece
Leaves oblong-ovate. Bracteoles lanceolate to 4 mm wide. Calyx teeth horizontal, mucro to 4 mm with glandular hairs.

P.× sieberi Vierhapper
Öst. Bot. Zeit. 65:231 (1915)
(=P. fruticosa Linnaeus × P. lanata Willdenow)
Distribution: Crete

Phlomis Photograph Pages
Phlomis anisodonta	*Phlomis fruticetorum*	*Phlomis platystegia*
*Phlomis armeniaca*	*Phlomis grandiflora*	*Phlomis pungens*
*Phlomis atropurpurea*	Phlomis herba-venti	*Phlomis purpurea*
*Phlomis betonicoides*	*Phlomis italica*	*Phlomis purpurea subsp. almeriensis*
*Phlomis bovei*	*Phlomis lanata*	Phlomis purpurea, white form
**Phlomis bovei subsp. maroccana**	*Phlomis leucophracta*	*Phlomis regelii*
*Phlomis bourgaei*	Phlomis leucophracta 'Golden Janissary'	*Phlomis russeliana*
Phlomis bourgaei 'Whirling Dervish'	Phlomis leucophracta 'Silver Janissary'	*Phlomis samia*
*Phlomis breviflora*	**Phlomis linearis var. plumosa**	Phlomis samia 'Green Glory'
*Phlomis bucharica*	*Phlomis longifolia*	*Phlomis taurica*
*Phlomis cashmeriana*	*Phlomis lunariifolia*	*Phlomis × trullenquei*
*Phlomis chrysophylla*	*Phlomis lychnitis*	*Phlomis tuberosa*
*Phlomis cretica*	**Phlomis × margaritae**	**Phlomis umbrosa var. australis**
Phlomis crinita hybrid	Phlomis milingensis
**Phlomis cypria var. occidentalis**	*Phlomis nissolii*
Phlomis 'Edward Bowles'	*Phlomis oreophila*