Salvia fulgens

Plant Characteristics

Habit		shrub
Height:	⇕	48 in"in" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 48.
Width:	⇔	30 in"in" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 30.
Lifespan:	⌛	perennial
Bloom:	❀	early summer, mid summer, late summer

Cultivation

Exposure:	☼	sun
Features:	✓	flowers
USDA Zones:		9 to 10
Flower features:	❀	red, pink

Scientific Names

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Salvia fulgens (Cardinal sage) is a perennial herb native to the Mexican mountains adjacent to the state of Puebla, growing at 8,700-11,000 ft elevation. It prefers the clearings and edges of woodlands. The mountains receive fog and rain nearly year-round.

Salvia fulgens grows 4-5 ft high and 3-4 ft wide, and requires a long warm autumn for full blooming. The 2 in flowers grow in loose whorls, and are fire engine red, reflecting the common name and the synonym S. cardinalis. The upper lip has red hairs which glisten ("fulgens") in the morning dew. A reddish-brown calyx remains long after the flowers drop. Inflorescences are usually about 4 in long, though occasionally a 12 in inflorescence appears. The heart-shaped leaves are pale yellow-green, about 1.5 in long by 1 in wide, and cover the plant quite profusely.

It was introduced into Western horticulture in the 1800s. It has been grown in Britain for many years.

Read about Salvia fulgens in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Salvia fulgens, Cav. (S. cardinalis, HBK.). Cardinal Salvia. Mexican Red Salvia. Perennial shrub, 2-3 ft. high: the numerous branches almost glabrous or pilose-hirsute: lvs. petiolate, 1-3 in. long, ovate, acute, crenate-serrate, base cordate, pubescent above, white-tomentose or lanate beneath; floral lvs. sessile, ovate, deciduous: racemes 6-12 in. long; floral whorls 6-fld., rather distant; calyx pedicelled, tubular-campanulate, pubescent; corolla showy scarlet, about 2 in. long, villous. July. Mex.—The fls. are darker red than those of S. splendens and the calyx is said to be dull colored and conspicuously striate. Apparently not very frequently cult. Var. Boucheana, Benth. (S. Boucheana, Kunth), has the lvs. narrowly deltoid-ovate, truncate or subcordate at the base. Mex. CH The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

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References

• Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963

External links

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