Salvia filicifolia Merr.

Plants perennial. Stems erect or slightly ascending. Leaves 3- or 4-pinnate; petiole 7-10 cm; leaf blade broadly ovate, ca. 7 × 7 cm; lobes numerous, narrowly elliptic to linear-lanceolate or oblanceolate, margin entire or few lobulate, 8-15 × 2-4 mm, abaxially glabrous. Verticillasters 6-10-flowered, in pedunculate racemes or panicles 10-23 cm; rachis gray puberulent, glandular pilose; bracts linear-lanceolate, 4-7 mm. Pedicel 1.5-2 mm, puberulent. Calyx tubular, ca. 7 mm, glandular strigose along veins outside; tube ca. 4 mm, sparsely villous annulate at throat inside; upper lip triangular or semicircular, ca. 2.5 × 3.5 mm, margin entire; lower lip ca. 2.8 × 3.5 mm, shallowly 2-toothed; teeth triangular, apex spinescent. Corolla yellow, densely pilose; tube imperfectly pilose annulate inside, ca. 8 mm, ca. 1.5 mm wide at base; upper lip oblong, ca. 2.2 × 1.8 mm; lower lip ca. 2.5 × 4 mm. Stamens exserted; filaments ca. 2 mm; connectives 6-8 mm, glabrous, upper arms ca. 5 mm, lower ca. 1.8 mm. Nutlets brown, ellipsoid, ca. 1.5 mm. Fl. May-Sep.

* Rocky and sandy areas. Guangdong, Hunan.

Salvia japonica Thunberg var. filicifolia (Merrill) Metcalf & E. Peter.

Salvia filicifolia is a perennial plant that is native to Guangdong and Hunan provinces in China, growing in rocky and sandy areas. S. filicifolia grows on erect or slightly ascending stems, with inflorescences that are 6-10 flowered verticillasters in pedunculate racemes or panicles, with a 8 mm (0.31 in) yellow corolla.