As I have not gotten any confirmation on the ID of this plant, purchased labelled as Salvia caespitosa/S. quezelii(?), I hesitate to send seeds to the NARGS and SRGC seedexes, and will instead send them out to whoever wants them...
PM me if would like seed of this attractive, if somewhat mysterious, large-flowered Salvia.
Comments
With such rarity it is no
With such rarity it is no wonder that the ID was hard to come by except by such as the Professor.
I understand Prof. Celep has written papers on Allium as well as on Salvias and other Lamiaceae.
I have been informed by Assoc.Professor Ferhat Celep, who is an expert on Old World sage, and particularly on Turkish species, that this is plant is actually Salvia blepharochleana, which is endemic to Turkey, and is also a rare and protected species.
Apparently, seed and plant collection of this species are not allowed without permission from the Turkish Ministry of Agriculture and also from the Ministry of the Environment and Forestry. (Given the uncertain name under which which the presumably seed-raised plant was sold, I assume the identity was not known at the time of collection.)