Salvia castanea Diels

The forms castanea, glabrescens, pubescens E. Peter (Acta Horti Gothob. 9: 134. 1934), and tomentosa E. Peter (Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 39: 181. 1936) have been differentiated largely on differences in hairiness of leaf surfaces.

Plants perennial. Stems 1 to few, 30-65 cm, pilose toward base, densely villous upward. Petiole 2-13 cm; leaf blade elliptic-lanceolate to oblong-ovate, 2-22 × 2-9 cm, glabrescent or ± hairy, abaxially subglabrous, base rounded to subcordate, rarely subtruncate, margin irregularly crenate to dentate, apex obtuse to subacute. Inflorescences densely villous, glandular pilose; verticillasters 2-4-flowered, widely spaced, in racemes or panicles; bracts ovate to broadly ovate, 4-10 × 2.5-8 mm. Pedicel 4-5 mm. Calyx campanulate, 0.9-1.5 cm, densely glandular villous, yellow-brown glandular, 2-lipped to ca. 1/3 its length; upper lip broadly triangular-semicircular, ca. 3 × 6 mm; lower lip slightly longer, ca. 4 × 6 mm; teeth triangular, apex acute. Corolla purple-brown, chestnut brown, or dark purple, 3-3.2 cm, pilose; tube obliquely pilose annulate inside, ca. 2.6 cm, zigzag toward base, curved upward beyond calyx, to 1 cm wide at mouth; upper lip ovate, ca. 6 mm, erect, falcate/slightly galeate; lower lip triangular, ca. 0.8 × 1.4 cm; middle lobe obcordate, ca. 4 × 6 mm; lateral lobes semicircular, ca. 5 mm wide. Filaments ca. 7 mm; connectives ca. 5 mm, arms subequal. Nutlets obovoid, ca. 3 mm, apex rounded. Fl. May-Sep.

Himalaya (Nepal to Bhutan), Tibet, China.

Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan [Nepal]

1800-4100 m

Forests, hillsides, grasslands; 2500-3800 m.

Salvia castanea is a herbaceous perennial plant discovered in the Yunnan Valley in China in 1904 by plant collector George Forrest. It also grows in Nepal, Bhutan, and Tibet. The plants used in horticulture today likely came from seed collected from a plant at 14,000 ft in Nepal, at the base of Mt. Everest. It grows 3 ft tall in the wild, and 1–2 feet in cultivation in Europe and the U.S. The few 1.0–1.5 in flowers grow in whorls on an inflorescence about 1 ft long. The name castanea, which means 'chestnut colored', refers to the purplish-maroon flowers