Salvia chinensis Benth.

Used medicinally.

Plants annual. Stems erect or prostrate at base, 20-60 cm, pubescent or villous. Leaves simple or 3-foliolate toward stem base; petiole 0.1-7 cm; leaf blade of simple leaves ovate to ovate-elliptic, 1.3-7 × 0.8-4.5 cm, subglabrous except for pubescent veins, base cordate to rounded, margin crenate or obtusely serrate; terminal leaflet 2.5-7.5 cm, petiolule 0.5-1.7 cm. Inflorescences pubescent; verticillasters 6-flowered, lower widely spaced, upper crowded, in pubescent terminal racemes or panicles 5-24 cm; bracts lanceolate, 2-8 × 0.8-2.3 mm. Pedicel 1.5-2 mm. Calyx campanulate, 4.5-6 mm, purple, veins villous, throat densely hirsute annulate; tube 4-4.5 mm; upper lip ± semicircular, ca. 1.5 × 3 mm, apex 3-mucronate; lower lip longer than upper, ca. 2 × 3 mm; teeth narrowly triangular, apex acuminate. Corolla blue-purple or purple, ca. 1 cm, exserted, pubescent; tube obliquely pilose annulate inside, ca. 6.5 mm, to 3 mm wide at throat; upper lip oblong, ca. 3.5 × 3.3 mm, spreading; lower lip ca. 5 × 7 mm, middle lobe obcordate, curved downward, ca. 4 × 7 mm, margin crenulate, apex emarginate; lateral lobes semicircular, ca. 1.3 mm wide. Stamens nearly exserted; filaments ca. 1.8 mm; connectives ca. 4.5 mm, upper arms ca. 3.5 mm. Nutlets brown, ellipsoid-ovoid, ca. 1.5 × 0.8 mm. Fl. Aug-Oct.

Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Shandong, Sichuan, Taiwan, Zhejiang

* Forests, tufts of grass on hillsides or plains; 100-500 m.

Salvia japonica Thunberg var. chinensis (Bentham) E. Peter; S. japonica var. integrifolia Franchet & Savatier; S. tashiroi Hayata.