Perennial herb to about 0.5 m tall, generally grown as an annual. Leaves ovate to linear, to about 7 cm long, 2 cm wide, entire or with a few shallow divisions, stalks to about 1 cm long. Flowers in spike-like clusters, each verticillaster of 10-16 flowers. Calyx 9-veined. Corolla pale to dark bluish violet, covered with white hair; summer to autumn.
W USA, Mexico
Flowers with mealy-white colouring.
Available in a range of habit and colour cultivars including those listed under the Cultivars tab.
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.
Flowers white.
Salvia farinacea 'Blue Bedder'
Habit compact. Flowers darker than the species.
Compact dwarf habit with dark blue flowers.
Flowers and calyces violet-blue.