Salvia ballotiflora
Family: Lamiaceae
Plant Description: Deciduous shrub to 2 m high with ovate leaves, 1-4 cm long, opposite, aromatic, margins toothed. Stems brittle. Flowers in short spikelike racemes. Corolla 1.3-1.6 cm long, blue or violet-blue, bilateral.
Plant Trivia: Spanish name translates to “sweet marjoram.”
Field Identification:
Occurrence: Frequent on caliche ridges or well-drained sandy and clayey loams in the western half of our counties.
Bloom Period: March – December
Plant Use: Excellent garden shrub in South Texas.
Key to species of Salvia:
- Corolla red…………………………………………………..S. coccinea
Corolla blue or blue-violet………………………………………….2
2. Plant a shrub…………………………………………S. ballotiflora
Plant an herb………………………………………………………………..3
3. Flower bracts leafy, exceeding calyxes…….S. texana
Flower bracts shorter than calyxes……….S. farinacea
stxflora 