Salvia microphylla Kunth

Much branched, aromatic shrub to c. 1.5 m high, with short hairs, these dense on young parts. Petiole 1–3 cm long. Lamina to 9 × 5 cm, sometimes as small as 10 × 7.5 mm on flowering shoots, ovate, ovate-oblong or elliptic, grey-tomentose below, and hairs mainly confined to veins above, crenate-serrate, or crenulate-serrulate on smaller lvs; base cuneate to rounded; apex obtuse to acute. Infl. to 6 cm tall, densely clothed in glandular hairs; verticels usually of 2 fls; pedicels slender, often long; bracts small and caducous. Calyx 10–13 mm long, tubular-campanulate, glandular and puberulent, usually purplish above; upper lip slightly > lower; teeth c. ⅓ length of tube. Corolla 2–3 cm long, crimson; upper lip ± parallel to tube, hairy outside, especially towards apex; lower lip > upper. Stamens with long, broad, upper connective arms and much shorter filaments. Nutlets not seen.

[From: Webb et al. (1988) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 4.]

Flowering: Jan.–Dec.