Compared with salvia verbenaca (wild clary), salvia pratensis has smaller leaf teeth, no long hairs on the calyces, and larger upper corolla lobes.
Common name:
Meadow clary
Family:
Scientific name:
Salvia pratensis
Main flower color:
Range:
Scattered locations in southern England
Height:
Up to 100 cm
Habitat:
Dry grassland, on calcareous soils
Flowers:
Purplish-blue, up to 3 cm long, with an arched, hooded, spreading upper lip and shorter, lobed lower lip, angled downwards. The reddish-purple calyces are covered with short hairs. The pale-coloured style projects well beyond the corolla, terminating in a two-pronged stigma. Flowers are arranged in whorls
Leaves:
Stalked, ovate, cordate at the base, up to 15 cm long, with light-coloured pinnate veins and a wrinkled surface. Margins are irregularly shallowly toothed
Season:
June to June
Rarity:
★★★★★
