Salvia flava Forrest ex Diels

Closely related to Salvia bulleyana and often regarded as a synonym of it.

Plants perennial. Stems erect, 20-50 cm, pilose or glabrescent. Petiole 0-14 cm; leaf blade ovate to triangular-ovate, 2-7 × 3.5-5 cm, adaxially appressed pilose, abaxially pubescent along veins, purple-brown glandular, base hastate or rarely cordate, margin crenate or double crenate, apex acute to subobtuse. Inflorescences densely villous, glandular pubescent; verticillasters 4-flowered, 4-8 ± remote in terminal racemes or panicles; bracts ovate, shorter to longer than calyx. Pedicel ca. 3 mm. Calyx campanulate, ca. 1-1.5 cm in flower, glandular pilose or pilose, sparsely purple-brown glandular, 2-lipped to ca. 1/3 its length; upper lip triangular-ovate, ca. 3 × 6 mm, apex 3-mucronate; lower lip slightly longer than upper, ca. 5 × 6 mm; teeth triangular, apex acute. Corolla yellow or brown or purple spotted on middle lobe, 2.3-3 cm; tube obliquely pilose annulate inside, cylindric toward base, curved upward, dilated at throat; upper lip ± falcate/galeate, 7-10 mm; middle lobe of lower lip subobovate to subflabellate, ca. 0.8-1.8 cm wide; lateral lobes nearly semicircular; filaments ca. 7 mm; connectives ca. 9 mm, upper arms ca. 5 mm, lower arms ca. 4 mm. Style slightly exserted. Nutlets unknown. Fl. Jul.

Sichuan, Yunnan

* Forests, forest margins, hillsides, grasslands; 2400-4000 m.

Salvia flava is a herbaceous perennial shrub native to Yunnan province in China, growing in large numbers at 7,500-13,000 ft elevation. It grows on hillsides and along streambanks in gravelly soil with maples, willows, viburnum, berberis, and clematis.

It grows over 2 ft tall with rich grassy green leaves that are about 3 in long with a puckered surface and pointed tip. In summer the flower stalk grows to 2 ft long, with yellow to yellow-brown flowers with a purple spot on the lower lip. The tubular shaped flowers are in whorls of four to eight, widely spaced, with long soft hairs.

The Flora of China (1994) states that Salvia bulleyana, also found in Yunnan, is closely related to and often mistaken for S. flava, and is sometimes regarded as a synonym. In Great Britain and the U.S., S. flava is often sold as S. bulleyana. The flowers of S. bulleyana are purple-blue with no spotting.