Salvia purpurea

Salvia purpurea is a perennial sage in the family Lamiaceae, a member of the large New World subgenus Calosphace, native to the highlands of southern Mexico and Central America, where it grows in oak and pine-oak forest, scrub and along clearings. It is an aromatic, erect, branching plant, often woody at the base, reaching about 1 to 2 metres tall, with the square stems characteristic of the mint family. The opposite leaves are ovate to triangular with toothed margins, somewhat wrinkled, and aromatic when crushed. The two-lipped flowers are borne in whorls along elongated terminal spikes and are a rich reddish-purple to magenta, subtended by coloured bracts, with the tubular calyx often also flushed purple. Flowering occurs mainly in the cooler months. As in other sages the fruit consists of four small nutlets enclosed in the persistent calyx. It is one of many Mexican Salvia species used locally and grown to a limited extent as an ornamental.