Salvia japonica Thunberg var. gracillima Diels; S. japonica var. kaiscianensis Pampanini; S. japonica var. parvifoliola Hemsley; S. pinnata Pavolini; S. tuberifera H. Léveillé.

Plants annual or biennial. Stems 1 to few, erect or ascending, spreading pilose. Leaves ternate to 5-7-foliolate or 2-pinnate; petiole slightly shorter to longer than blade; leaflets ovate to lanceolate, 0.5-5 × to 5 cm, abaxially purplish, glandular, base broadly cuneate to rounded, margin crenate or crenate-dentate, apex acuminate to rounded. Inflorescences densely glandular pilose; verticillasters (2-)5-7-flowered, widely spaced, in elongated racemes or panicles; bracts lanceolate, to 2 mm. Pedicel 1-2 mm. Calyx campanulate-tubular, 5-8 mm in flower, 2-lipped to ca. 1/4 its length, yellowish glandular, veins glandular pubescent; upper lip semicircular, ca. 1.5 × 2.5 mm, margin entire; lower lip ca. 1.5 mm, to 3 mm wide, deeply 2-toothed; fruiting calyx 7-11 mm, glabrescent. Corolla red to purplish or purple-blue, rarely white, 1.1-2 cm, finely pilose; tube tubular, 2-3 × as long as calyx, slightly dilated at apex; upper lip straight, ca. 3 × 1.8 mm; lower lip dilated, somewhat longer than upper lip, middle lobe obcordate, lateral lobes subcircular. Filaments 2-3 mm; connectives suberect, 3-4 mm, upper arms longer than lower. Nutlets brownish, blackish brown on midvein, oblong, ca. 2.5 mm, adaxially ribbed, rounded. Fl. May-Aug.

Used medicinally.

Hillsides, streamsides in valleys, sparse forests; 800-2500 m. Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan [Bhutan, India]