Tas. 6772, 
SALVIA DISCOLOR. 
Native of Peru. 
Nat. Ord. Lanratz.— Tribe MonarpEx. 
Genus Satvia, Linn.; (Benth. et Hook.f. Gen. Pl. vol. ii. p- 1194.) 
Satvra (Calosphace) discolor ; caule fruticoso erecto cano-tomentoso, ramulis gluti- 
nosis, foliis petiolatis ovato-oblongis oblongo-lanceolatisve obtusis v. acutiusculis 
basi rotundatis integerrimis supra glabris viridibus subtus niyveo-tomentosis, 
verticillis 4—8-floris distantibus, bracteis floribusque caducis, calyce campanu- 
lato vix ad medium 2-labiato, labiis suberectis integris v. inferiore 2-fido, 
corollz purpuree tubo calyce incluso recto, labio superiore anguste oblongo 
recto abate: inferiore latiore subquadrato apice 2-lobo, connectivo recto 
lineari acuto. 
8. discolor, Kunth in Humb. et Bonpl. Nov. Gen. et Sp. vol. ii. p. 294, t. 146 ; 
Benth, in DC. Prodr. vol. xii. p. 338. 
S. mexicana, var. minor, Hemsl. in Gard. Chron. vol. xix. (1883), p. 341, fig. 49 
(position of calyx inverted), and vol. xx. (1883), p. 588. 
S. nigricans, Hort. Cannell. 
This remarkable plant has excited a good deal of interest, 
due to its strikingly bold and handsome port, and the deep 
almost black hue of the flowers. It was first exhibited by 
Mr. Cannell under the garden name of 8S. nigricans, and 
was subsequently supposed to be identical with S. mexicana, 
var. minor, Benth. (in DC. Prodr. vol. xii. p. 337), to which 
it is closely allied, but differs in the form of both calyx and 
corolla, and it comes from a very different country. It 
belongs indeed to a section (tubiflore, Benth.), of which 
most of the species are Peruvian or New Grenadan. One 
of its most singular characters is the caducous nature of 
the bracts and flowers, so that it was not till after some 
disappointments that I procured specimens fit for figuring, 
which I owe to the kind trouble taken by Mr. Lynch, of 
the Cambridge Botanical Gardens, in carefully packing and 
forwarding specimens. Its brittle character, no doubt, 
accounts for the error in the otherwise excellent figure in 
the ‘“‘Gardener’s Chronicle,” which represents the bifid 
under lip as the superior one. 
AUGUST Ist, 1884. 
