Woody-based shrub to 1.5 m tall. Leaves mostly broadly ovate, cordate, to about 8 cm long, hairy, stalked, tip pointed, margin with a few shallow cuts. Flowers in elongated clusters, the verticillasters well spaced and each with 2-6 flowers; autumn to winter. Corolla tube 2.5-3 cm long, scarlet. [S. rutilans Cav.]
Mexico, C America
S. rutilans is probably only a form of S. elegans and is now generally treated as synonymous with that species. The species is probably not cultivated in Australia except as the cultivar S. 'Scarlet Pineapple'.
Source: (2002). Salvia. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 4. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 3. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.
Salvia elegans 'Scarlet Pineapple'
A name used for a later flowering form with leaves almost rhomboid and not as broad as the species.
This is the true pineapple sage often known as S. rutilans.
When grown from seed it shows some variability.