The Divine Mis(labeled) Plant

The Minnesota legislature is working on banning the sale of the plant Salvia divinorum and its byproducts. You notice how I gave both the genus and species name of the plant in the first sentence.

For those of you who are not gardeners, it might surprise you to know that there are some 700 to 900 plants in the genus Salvia -- everything from that blazing red annual planted outside your bank, to the sage in your Thanksgiving dressing, to the native prairie sage.

The Star Tribune doesn't appear to be too sensitive to the differences, either. In its March 12 story on the banning, the headline and deck mention just "salvia," and even the lead by writer Jon Tevlin left out the species name:

If you saw it in the wild, the salvia plant would look a lot like the shade flower bordering your annual bed. Its leaves might resemble the mint used to make a nice pot of tea.

It's not until the second paragraph that we're given the all-important species name. (And by the way, Jon, annual salvia is not a shade plant. It prefers full sun.)

I wonder how many people with marginal interest in gardening will think that those red flowers outside the bank are going to be banned.