Wikipedia's first sentence called it “herbaceous perennial native to a wide area that includes turkey”. Today it says “herbaceous perennial native to a wide area including palestine”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2020 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2020
Salvia palaestina is a herbaceous perennial native to a wide area including what was historically known as Palestine , (which now includes Israel and the West Bank ) and is also native to Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, the Sinai peninsula and northeastern Egypt.1 It was named and described by George Bentham in 1835, with the specific epithet ( palaestina ) referring to its geographical distribution "in Palæstinæ montibus inter Gaza et Jerusalem", or the mountains between Gaza and Jerusalem. S. palaestina grows in a wide variety of habitats, between 1,000 to 4,000 ft (300 to 1,220 m) elevation. It was introduced into horticulture in the 1990s. The plant grows 1 to 2 ft (0.30 to 0.61 m) tall, with an upright habit and many square stems growing from basal roots. The mid-green rugose leaves vary in shape and size, with light hairs on both sides, and glands that release a scent when rubbed or crushed. The 12 in (30 cm) inflorescences grow candelabrum-like at the top of the stems, with 4–6 flowers per whorl. The .5 in (1.3 cm) flowers are straight and tubular, ranging in color from white to pale lilac. Flora of Egypt: Verbenaceae-Compositae . The New Book of Salvias . The International Plant Names Index . Labiatarum Genera et Species: or, a description of the genera and species of plants of the order labiatae .
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 930584921.
The opening as it stood in 2010
Salvia palaestina is a herbaceous perennial native to a wide area that includes Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Israel, Palestine, the Sinai peninsula, and northeastern Egypt. It grows in a wide variety of habitats, between 1,000 to 4,000 feet elevation. It was introduced into horticulture in the 1990s. Salvia palaestina grows 1-2 feet tall, with an upright habit and many square stems growing from basal roots. The mid-green rugose leaves vary in shape and size, with light hairs on both sides, and glands that release a scent when rubbed or crushed. The 12 inch inflorescences grow candelabra-like at the top of the stems, with 4-6 flowers per whorl. The .5 inch flowers are straight and tubular, ranging in color from white to pale lilac. The New Book of Salvias .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 357340422.
The opening as it stood in 2015
Salvia palaestina is a herbaceous perennial native to a wide area including what was historically known as Palestine , (which now includes Israel and the West Bank ) and is also native to Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, the Sinai peninsula and northeastern Egypt.It was named and described by George Bentham in 1835, with the specific epithet ( palaestina ) referring to its geographical distribution "in Palæstinæ montibus inter Gaza et Jerusalem", or the mountains between Gaza and Jerusalem.S. palaestina grows in a wide variety of habitats, between 1,000 to 4,000 ft (300 to 1,220 m) elevation. It was introduced into horticulture in the 1990s. The plant grows 1 to 2 ft (0.30 to 0.61 m) tall, with an upright habit and many square stems growing from basal roots. The mid-green rugose leaves vary in shape and size, with light hairs on both sides, and glands that release a scent when rubbed or crushed. The 12 in (30 cm) inflorescences grow candelabra-like at the top of the stems, with 4-6 flowers per whorl.The .5 in (1.3 cm) flowers are straight and tubular, ranging in color from white to pale lilac.Flora of Egypt: Verbenaceae-Compositae . The New Book of Salvias . The International Plant Names Index .Labiatarum Genera et Species: or, a description of the genera and species of plants of the order labiatae .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 605008441.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
Species of plant Salvia palaestina is a herbaceous perennial native to a wide area including what was historically known as Palestine , (which now includes Israel and the Palestinian Territories ) and is also native to Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, the Sinai peninsula and northeastern Egypt. It was named and described by George Bentham in 1835, with the specific epithet ( palaestina ) referring to its geographical distribution "in Palæstinæ montibus inter Gaza et Jerusalem", or the mountains between Gaza and Jerusalem. S. palaestina grows in a wide variety of habitats, between 1,000 to 4,000 ft (300 to 1,220 m) elevation. It was introduced into horticulture in the 1990s. The plant grows 1 to 2 ft (0.30 to 0.61 m) tall, with an upright habit and many square stems growing from basal roots. The mid-green rugose leaves vary in shape and size, with light hairs on both sides, and glands that release a scent when rubbed or crushed. The 12 in (30 cm) inflorescences grow candelabrum-like at the top of the stems, with 4–6 flowers per whorl. The .5 in (1.3 cm) flowers are straight and tubular, ranging in color from white to pale lilac. Flora of Egypt: Verbenaceae-Compositae . The New Book of Salvias . The International Plant Names Index . Labiatarum Genera et Species: or, a description of the genera and species of plants of the order labiatae .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1050948367.
The opening as it stood in 2025
Species of plant Salvia palaestina flower close-up Salvia palaestina is a herbaceous perennial native to a wide area including Palestine , and is also native to Turkey, Syria, Israel, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, the Sinai peninsula and northeastern Egypt. It was named and described by George Bentham in 1835, with the specific epithet ( palaestina ) referring to its geographical distribution "in Palæstinæ montibus inter Gaza et Jerusalem", or the mountains between Gaza and Jerusalem. S. palaestina grows in a wide variety of habitats, between 1,000 to 4,000 ft (300 to 1,220 m) elevation. It was introduced into horticulture in the 1990s. The plant grows 1 to 2 ft (0.30 to 0.61 m) tall, with an upright habit and many square stems growing from basal roots. The mid-green rugose leaves vary in shape and size, with light hairs on both sides, and glands that release a scent when rubbed or crushed. The 12 in (30 cm) inflorescences grow candelabrum-like at the top of the stems, with 4–6 flowers per whorl. The .5 in (1.3 cm) flowers are straight and tubular, ranging in color from white to pale lilac. Flora of Egypt: Verbenaceae-Compositae . The New Book of Salvias . The International Plant Names Index . Labiatarum Genera et Species: or, a description of the genera and species of plants of the order labiatae .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1266691650. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “herbaceous perennial native to a wide area that includes turkey”. Today it says “herbaceous perennial native to a wide area including palestine”. Read the current article and compare.
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2010, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
herbaceous perennial native to a wide area that includes turkey
Now
herbaceous perennial native to a wide area including palestine
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.