Here is some good information from Siebert's site:
http://www.sagewisdom.org/clones.htmlI'm pretty new to horticulture myself, but what I gather is that each "strain" the result of sexual reproduction of the plants via pollination. Much like human males have sperm and females have an egg that is fertilized by the sperm,
some plants produce male and female flowers that require pollination. The male flowers release pollen that needs to reach the female pistil...sometimes this is done by the wind, other times by bees or other insects...it can also be done purposely by humans using an artists paintbrush. The result of a successful union is fruit which bears seeds that has the traits and genetic makeup of the two parents (if cross pollinated / 2 different plants are involved). I guess it's also possible for a single plant to pollinate itself, whereby certain flowers are male and other flowers are female.
With cross pollination, one can selectively BREED plants that have desireable traits, much like dogs are bred.
For whatever reason, Salvia Divinorum rarely produces seeds....it would need to flower and the whole above deal would need to happen...I could be entirely wrong but it doesn't seem like there has been much scientific attention paid to Salvia. There are quite a few individuals like Siebert and many hobbyists that grow salvia, and they have made forward progress in understanding the plant better (Siebert having discovered the active psychoactive compound in Salvia without being a Doctor as far as I know)...but the study of the plant in a laboratory environment I don't think has happened.
As such, nobody really knows why salvia doesn't produce seeds very often. Maybe it's that most people are interested in the leaves and not the seeds and it's just as easy to clone a plant by taking a cutting...Which is what nearly all accounts on the internet say for how the plant propogates (or reproduces). Rather than doing the sexual reproduction thing, the plant thrives until it reaches a certain height where it cannot support itself any longer and it tips over, the broken piece of the plant finds its way to the ground where it sets up roots and begins growing a seperate salvia plant...But really that means of reproduction is no different than cloning a person. The gene pool (and traits of the plant) are limited.
Any problems with the plant are passed onto all clones.
As I was saying, I'm not sure if the lack of seeds could be attributed to people not putting the plant into a flowering stage...But even still, if we're all dealing with the same strain of the plant, than what good would it be to pollinate it with another clone of itself?
I could be entirely off base with everything I just said, if so, I hope that someone will correct me and set us both on the right path.
Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2010 5:48 pm