Salvia plebeia R. Br.

Used as a folk medicine. Easily recognized by the very small flowers.

Herbs annual or biennial. Stems erect, 15-90 cm, robust, much branched, retrorse gray pilose. Petiole 4-15 mm; leaf blade elliptic-ovate to elliptic-lanceolate, 2-6 × 0.8-2.5 cm, adaxially sparsely minutely hispid, abaxially finely pilose, sparsely yellow-brown glandular, base rounded to cuneate, margin crenate, dentate, or serrate, apex obtuse to acute. Inflorescences densely pilose; verticillasters 6-flowered, numerous, in racemes or panicles 10-25 cm; bracts lanceolate. Pedicel ca. 1 mm. Calyx campanulate, ca. 2.7 mm, pilose, sparsely yellow-brown glandular, 2-lipped to 1/3 its length; upper lip 3-denticulate; lower lip deeply 2-toothed, teeth triangular. Corolla reddish, purplish, purple, blue-purple, to blue, rarely white, ca. 4.5 mm; tube glabrous, hairy annulate inside; upper lip oblong, ca. 1.8 × 1 mm, densely puberulent; lower lip ca. 1.7 × 1 mm, middle lobe broadly obovate. Stamens slightly exserted; filaments ca. 1.5 mm; connectives ca. 1.5 mm, arcuate, arms subequal. Nutlets obovoid, ca. 0.4 mm in diam. Fl. Apr-May, fr. Jun-Jul.

Afghanistan, Chitral, Himalaya (Kashmir to Bhutan), India, China, Malaysia, Australia, Japan.

In every province except Gansu, Qinghai, Xinjiang, Xizang [Afghanistan, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Myanmar, Russia, Thailand, Vietnam; Australia]

170-1100 m

Hillsides, streamsides, wet fields; 0-2800 m.

Lumnitzeria fastigiata (Roth) Sprengel; Ocimum fastigiatum Roth; O. virgatum Thunberg; Salvia brachiata Roxburgh; S. minutiflora Bunge; S. plebeia var. latifolia E. Peter.

Salvia plebeia is an annual or biennial herb that is native to a wide region of Asia. It grows on hillsides, streamsides, and wet fields from sea level to 2,800 m (9,200 ft). S. plebeia grows on erect stems to a height of 15 to 90 cm (5.9 to 35.4 in) tall, with elliptic-ovate to elliptic-lanceolate leaves. Inflorescences are 6-flowered verticillasters in racemes or panicles, with a distinctly small corolla (4.5 mm (0.18 in)) that comes in a wide variety of colors: reddish, purplish, purple, blue-purple, to blue, and rarely white.