Salvia interrupta was first scientifically described in 1801 by the Danish botanist Peder Kofod Anker Schousboe, who was the Danish consul at Tangier from 1801 to 1832.[4] Schousboe was an avid collector of plants for the University of Copenhagen Botanical Garden and described many species from Morocco and Mauritania. Prior to its formal 1801 description, it was first mentioned in an unofficial survey of Moroccan flora circa 1791–1793 by Schousboe.[5] Soon after its discovery, S. interrupta was brought to Europe sometime before 1870.