The number of chromosomes (the home of all nuclear DNA) in a species can be useful both to hybridization studies, and to reconstructing the evolutionary history of a group of plants. The following tables demonstrate the tremendous diversity of chromosome numbers found in the genus Salvia, ranging from N=6 to N=44. Linked to this page is a compilation of over 600 chromosome counts for Salvia and closely related Mentheae. Below can be seen examples of chromosomes in Salvia (from Afzal 1971).