Salvia aerea H. Lév.

Used medicinally.

Plants perennial. Stems 6-40 cm, densely yellow-brown villous. Leaves mostly basal; petiole 2-4 cm, shorter or absent in stem leaves; leaf blades elliptic to elliptic-lanceolate, rarely obovate or circular, 2.5-8.5(-20) × 2.5-4.5(-8) cm, adaxially densely brown villous, abaxially villous, sparsely purple-brown glandular, base attenuate to shallowly cordate, margin irregularly crenate, apex obtuse; stem leaf blades elliptic, oblong to ovate or obovate, 1-5.8 (-8) × 1-4.5(-5) cm, margin crenate. Verticillasters 2-6-flowered, lower widely spaced, in racemes to 15 cm; rachis densely brown villous; bracts elliptic to obovate, upper 5-14 × 3-8 mm, margin densely villous-ciliate. Pedicel 2-4 mm, densely brown villous. Calyx campanulate, 9-10 mm, brown villous, margin villous; upper lip semicircular, ca. 5 × 8 mm, apex 3-mucronate; lower lip ca. 5 × 7 mm, teeth triangular, acute; fruiting calyx dilated, broad campanulate, conspicuously veined, densely villous on veins and margin. Corolla orange, white, dark blue, and purple, 2.6-3.5 cm, finely pilose; tube obliquely pilose annulate inside, gradually dilated to ca. 8 mm wide at throat; upper lip narrowly ovate, ca. 7 × 6 mm; lower lip ca. 1.2 × 1.7 cm, middle lobe obcordate, ca. 4 × 5 mm; lateral lobes semicircular, to 4 mm wide. Filaments complanate, ca. 9 mm. Nutlets brown, obovoid, adaxially ribbed, ca. 3 × 2 mm, slightly netted, apex glandular.

Guizhou, Sichuan, Yunnan

* Grasslands, hillsides, thickets, forests; 2500-3300 m.

Salvia lichiangensis W. Smith; S. pinetorum Handel-Mazzetti.

Salvia aerea is a perennial plant that is native to Sichuan, Guizhou, and Yunnan provinces in China, typically growing on hillsides, grasslands, forests, and thickets at 2,500 to 3,300 m (8,200 to 10,800 ft) elevation. It grows 6 to 40 cm (2.4 to 15.7 in) tall, with mostly basal leaves that are typically 2.5 to 8.5 cm (0.98 to 3.35 in) long and 2.5 to 4.5 cm (0.98 to 1.77 in) wide, though they can reach up to 20 cm (7.9 in) by 8 cm (3.1 in).

The inflorescences are racemes up to 15 cm (5.9 in) long, with a 2.6 to 3.5 cm (1.0 to 1.4 in) corolla that comes in a wide variety of colors: orange, purple, white, and dark blue. The plant is used medicinally.