Tas. 4939. 
SALVIA porpPHYRATA. 
Bright red-lowered Sage. 
Nat. Ord. Laprat#.—D1anpr1a MONOGYNIA. 
Gen. Char. (Vide supra, Tas. 4874.) 
Satvia porphyrata; caule erecto inferne adscendente decumbente tetragono 
subincano, foliis sublonge petiolatis reniformi-cordatis crenato-lobatis supra 
glabriusculis subtus pubescenti-incanis, racemo elongato, verticillastris 
4—6-floris, bracteis lanceolato-ovatis parvis, pedicellis brevibus, calyce labio 
superiore truncato bidentato (denticulo intermedio obsoleto) inferiore bifido, 
corollz pubescentis intenso-coccinez calyce triplo longioris labio superiore 
brevi recto bifido, inferiore amplo trilobato, lobis lateralibus ovatis inter- 
medio maximo bifido, staminibus exsertis loculis omnibus polliniferis. 
SaLvia porphyrata. ‘“ Decaisne, in Rev. Hortic. 4 Sér. vol. 3. p. SOI Ff, 16." 
Garden. Chron, 1854, p. 694. 
This very pretty Sage was received from Mr. Thomson, of 
Ipswich, under the name of Salvia Roemeriana (Scheele, in 
Linnea, vol. xxii. p. 586), and consequently as a native of Texas. 
The name is unquestionably an error, and thus doubt is natu- 
rally thrown upon the locality. From another source we learn 
that it bears the name of S. porphyrantha of Decaisne, in a work 
which we have not to consult, but it sufficiently accords with the 
brief notice of that plant in the ‘Gardeners’ Chronicle ;’ but the 
native country seems unknown. The miserable description we 
have of S. crenata, Mart. et Gal., a Mexican species, accords 
sufficiently with our plant in the leaves and colour of the flowers ; 
but it is impossible to decide the point with only two lines of 
diagnosis in a genus of considerably above five hundred species. 
It is probably not hardy, though it flowers in the open air, in 
July ; and it will probably make a valuable bedding-out species, 
the plants being humble in stature, and the flowers copious and 
SEPTEMBER Ist, 1856. 
