Hey, y'all. I purchased this salvia at our MG plant sale three years ago from a fellow MG. She said it was a wild one, but I'll be danged if I can ID it. The closest I came to it was in the data base was wild clary sage, salvia verbenaca, but I don't think the blooms look quite right. I'm stumped. Here's two pics, one of the plant and a close up of the bloom. It's leaves are hairy. It's a perennial in my garden, but dies back to the ground in the winter and re emerges in the spring.



Thanks for your help!

Salvia forsskaolei, perhaps.

That was quick! Thanks, Alana.

That looks like a Skullcap/Scutellaria rather than a Salvia. The first thing I notice is that the calyx shape is wrong for Salvia, but is right for Scutellaria.

I'm not great at distinguishing between the different species of similar-looking Scutellaria, so I can't give a species identity. There are several species native to Arkansas.

One possibility is Heart-Leaved Skullcap (Scutellaria ovata)

Danita said:That looks like a Skullcap/Scutellaria rather than a Salvia. The first thing I notice is that the calyx shape is wrong for Salvia, but is right for Scutellaria.

I'm not great at distinguishing between the different species of similar-looking Scutellaria, so I can't give a species identity. There are several species native to Arkansas.

One possibility is Heart-Leaved Skullcap (Scutellaria ovata)

I agree with Danica. It looks like a Skullcap.

I think you're right Danita! Sorry 'fish.

Wow, not a salvia at all! No problem, I love it, and still admire it as a unique plant. It's a bee magnet, and that's exactly what I want! I've been adding many bee plants over the years. This one fits in among my salvias very nicely. Alana, Marilyn and Danita, thank you so much for your expertise in plant ID.

@Danita, you tagged it, even down to the specific variety. I just checked the data base. Yesterday I had gone back outside to take a very close look at the blooms and noticed the unusual lighter color mottling the lower lip. It wasn't streaks, rather dots of a paler violet shade. When I saw the pics of the heart leaf scullcap, Boom! The exact same blooms.

That particular Skullcap looks like the one I have. I'll have to find my pics of it and post it to Heart-Leaved Skullcap (Scutellaria ovata)

The garden center I got it from had the wrong Skullcap variety plant tag with it and I've been trying to figure which database to add it til now.

You know, I have to laugh, because all this time I though it was a salvia. I'm going to tell the MG friend I got it from, she needs to be cheered up. I saw her last night at our County Fair Board Meeting, of which we are both members. She is medically fragile, requires both a hip and knee replacement, and, of course, can't get this done until October now. She looks terrible. This is the first time I've seen her since the first of March. I wanted to hug her so bad, but of course I couldn't. And more bad news; we will probably not have a county fair this year. A huge blow for all our 4 H kids, we have a strong county program here. The fair, to me, is all about the kids. We will meet again the first of July to make a final decision of yes or no.