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.

Salvia chinensis is an annual plant that is native to several provinces in China, growing in forests, and in tufts of grass on hillsides or plains at 100 to 500 m (330 to 1,640 ft) elevation. S. chinensis grows on stems that are erect or prostrate to a height of 20 to 60 cm (7.9 to 23.6 in). Inflorescences are 6-flowered verticillasters in terminal racemes or panicles, with a 1 cm (0.39 in) blue-purple or purple corolla.