Duration: Annual
Nativity: Native
Lifeform: Forb/Herb
General: Annual herbs, 30-50 cm tall, from a slender taproot; stems square in cross section, erect, slender, usually branching near the base; herbage closely glandular-hirtellous with capitate hairs.
Leaves: Opposite, on slender petioles 1 cm long; blades oblong-elliptic to linear-lanceolate, 2-6 cm long and 3-15 mm wide, with a tapering base and acute to attenuate tip, the margins irregularly incised-serrate, and surfaces sparsely hirtellous and minutely glandular; leaf underside slightly paler than the upper surface.
Flowers: Blue-purple, in terminal racemes 3-15 cm long, with 2 flowers per node (sometimes 1 or 3), each on a short pedicel 1-3 mm long, and long internodes, 1-3 cm long, between pairs of flowers along the raceme stalk; calyx 2-lipped, 5 mm long, glandular-pilose, green and tinged with blue-purple; corolla blue, the lower portion a tube 4-5 mm long which is hidden within the calyx, topped with 2 lips which emerge beyond the calyx; upper lip 2-3 mm long, and lower lip 7-8 mm long.
Fruits: Nutlets 4, ellipsoidal, 3 mm long and 2 mm wide, smooth but dull, buff to pale brown.
Ecology: Found along canyons, rocky shaded slopes, and on margins of meadows, below 5,500 ft (1676 m); flowers August-September.
Distribution: AZ, NM, w TX; south to n MEX.
Notes: A pungent-scented annual sage, erect with opposite, irregularly incised-serrate leaves and deep blue, 2-lipped flowers with the corolla much longer than the calyx. Also note the gland-tipped hairs on the calyx; S. reflexa is a similar annual Salvia, but it has leaves that are mostly entire, not toothed, and the calyxes are covered with punctate glands, not gland-tipped hairs.
Ethnobotany: Unknown, but other species in the genus have uses.
Etymology: Salvia comes from Latin salvere, to heal or save, alluding to the healing properties of some species; subincisa means almost incised, referring to the shallowly but irregularly toothed leaves.
Synonyms: None
Editor: SBuckley 2010, FSCoburn 2015, AHazelton 2017
