Common name: Scarlet Sage, Tropical Sage
Salvia coccinea Juss. ex Murray APNI* 
Description: Slender perennial herb to c. 100 cm high; branches erect, with short, simple retrorse hairs and long, multicellular, ± spreading hairs, glands absent.
Leaves with lamina ovate or triangular-ovate to narrow-ovate, 1.5–5 cm long, 1–3.5 cm wide; apex acute to ± obtuse; base truncate or cordate; margins crenate or toothed; lower surface usually densely covered with short hairs, upper surface mostly sparsely hairy; petiole 0.5–8 cm long.
Inflorescence thyrse-like, with 3–10 flowers per pair of bracts; bracts tapering, caducous. Sepals 7–8 mm long or to 10 mm long in fruit. Corolla 15–25 mm long, bright red, rarely pink. Anthers with 1 loculus fertile, the other indistinguishable from the flattened extension of the connective.
Flowering: throughout year.
Distribution and occurrence: Probably introduced as a garden plant; naturalized in coastal districts north from Nowra. Native to trop. Amer.
NSW subdivisions: *NC, *CC, *SC, *LHI
Other Australian states: *Qld
Text by B. J. Conn
Taxon concept: Flora of NSW 3 (1992)
APNI* Provides a link to the Australian Plant Name Index (hosted by the Australian National Botanic Gardens) for comprehensive bibliographic data
***The AVH map option provides a detailed interactive Australia wide distribution map drawn from collections held by all major Australian herbaria participating in the Australian Virtual Herbarium project.
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