Salvia ceratophylloides Ard. (Lamiaceae): A Rare Endemic Species of Calabria (Southern Italy)

Salvia ceratophylloides Ard. is a very precious narrow endemism of Southern Italy. It grows in the suburban surroundings of Reggio Calabria, on coastal strip hilly ridges between 250 and 450 m a.s.l. At the beginning of 1900, it was present in several localities, as evidenced by literature, where it was already very rare. Afterward, despite the research carried out by various botanists, the species was no longer found, due to its disappearing in the places mentioned in literature resulting from the intense environmental transformations suffered by the territory. Therefore, the species since 1997 was included in the “Red Book of the flora of Italy” among the extinct species. The successive research carried out in 2008 made it possible to ascertain new localities at about 10 km of distance from those reported in the literature. The actual population consists of about 1000 individuals, and according to IUNC criteria, the conservation status is critically endangered (CR). The threats to survival and spread of the species are different, but above all, it is the habitat destruction due to urbanization to threaten this species.