Salvia lanceolata (lanceleaf sage) is a perennial shrub native to a small area of coast on the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa.

Swedish botanist Carl Peter Thunberg, who was delayed in South Africa on the way to Japan, first collected it nearly twenty years earlier, along with approximately 3,000 plants that he later described.

It wasn't until 1800 that Thunberg gave the plant the specific epithet "nivea", meaning 'snowy' in Latin, referring to the color of the foliage.

The leaves are lanceolate and evergreen, thick textured, and dove-gray with a green undertone.

[1] When crushed, the leaves give off a light fragrance reminiscent of lemon pepper, and are used in South Africa for cooking, most commonly with fish.