Tuberous jerusalem sage

Phlomoides tuberosa, the tuberous Jerusalem sage (formerly Phlomis tuberosa), is a tall perennial herb in the Lamiaceae family native to a broad belt of temperate Eurasia stretching from central and eastern Europe through southwest Asia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, and China. Plants arise from a cluster of swollen, starchy tubers borne on fibrous roots and produce erect, four-angled, often purplish stems 60 to 150 centimetres tall. The leaves are opposite, the basal ones long-petiolate and broadly ovate to triangular-cordate with crenate margins and rugose dark green upper surfaces, the stem leaves becoming smaller and more lance-shaped above. Flowering occurs in early to midsummer; the inflorescence consists of several whorled verticillasters spaced along the upper stem, each bearing numerous purplish-pink to red-violet two-lipped flowers with hooded upper lips. Fruits are smooth, three-angled nutlets enclosed in the persistent calyx.