SALVIA OPPOSITIFLORA. 
(Opposite-flowered Sage.) 
Class. 
Order. 
DIANDRIA. 
MONOGYNIA. 
Natural Order. 
LAMIACE^. 
(Labiates, Veg. King.) 
Generic Character — Calyx ovate, tubular, or cam- 
panulate, bilabiate ; upper lip entire, or tridentate ; 
lower one bifid : throat naked in&ide. Corolla with an 
inclosed or exserted tube, which is equal, ventricose 
or widened, sometimes furnished with a ring of hairs 
inside, sometimes naked, or furnished with two teeth 
or processes on the lower side at the base ; limb bila- 
biate ; upper lip erect, rarely spreading, straight or 
falcate, entire or emarginate ; lower lip spreading, 
shorter or longer, with the lateral lobes oblong or 
roundish, spreading, reflexed or twisted erectly, the 
middle lobe usually the broadest, entire or emarginate. 
Rudiments of superior stamens wanting, or small and 
club-shaped ; lower two always fertile, inserted near 
the throat of the tube ; filaments short, horizontal, 
rarely erect, articulated with the anther at the top, 
and usually drawn out beneath the articulation, rarely 
almost continuous. Anthers dimidiate; connective 
elongated, linear, articulated transversely with the 
filament, ascending under the upper lip of the corolla, 
and bearing at the top a linear, adnate, or versatile 
fertile cell, and deflexed or erect behind, and some- 
times bearing another smaller cell, which is either 
fertile or dilFormed, and empty ; free, but usually com- 
bined together, or connate in various ways. Disk of 
Ovarium glanduliferous in front. Style ascending, 
bifid at top ; lobes sometimes subulate, equal, or the 
superior one the longest, and sometimes the lower one 
or both are rounded, dilated and flattened. Stigmas 
for the most part minute, terminal, or in the larger 
part running along the lobes of the style. Achenia 
ovoid-triquetrous, dry, glabrous, usually very smooth. 
—Mag. Bot., v. xii. t. 31. 
Specific Character.— shrubby. Stem pro- 
cumbent at the base. Branches erect, pubescent. 
Leaves petiolate, ovate-oblong, obtuse, somewhat cor- 
date at the base, green on both surfaces, wrinkled, 
pubescent, an inch-and-a-half long ; floral leaves ovate- 
lanceolate, deciduous. Racemes simple, elongated. 
Whorls secimd, two-flowered. Flowers orange-red. 
Calyx tubular, striated, two-lipped ; upper lip entire, 
teeth of the lower lip ovate, acute. Corolla four times 
the length of the calyx, pubescent outside ; tube three 
times the length of the calyx ; lips nearly equal. 
Authorities and Synonvmes — Salvia, Linnceus, 
and many other Botanists. Stenarrhena, D. Don, 
Prod. FI. Nep. Horminum, Sclarea, and Oithiopis, 
Tournef., Inst, and many others. Salvia oppositiflora, 
Ruiz et Pav., Flor. Peruv, i. p. 26, t. 43. Salviagrata, 
Vahl, Enum. i., p. 244. 
This very beautiful species of Sage is a native of Peru, whence it was intro- 
duced a short time ago by Messrs. Veitch and Son, Exeter. Their collector found 
it growing in elevated and exposed situations in Tarma, where it was subjected to 
little moisture and considerable aridity. 
It flowered in November last, when our drawing was made. The whole plant 
emits a pleasant fragrance, which however becomes too powerful when it is 
handled. 
