Salvia lanceolata flowers

The Salvia lanceolata flowers grow in opposite pairs, spaced variably in bigger clusters or crowded near the tips of smaller side-branchlets. The hairy calyces enlarge during fruiting, the bracts dropping off early.

The flowers are dull rose, reddish, rusty brown, yellowish or even greyish blue. In this photo some cream and bluish corollas, resembling hairy, ridged bird beaks, occur in the same inflorescence. The flowers are from 2,5 cm to 5 cm long, the upper lip of the corolla narrowly hooded and much longer than the tube.

Bloomtime is from spring to early winter, in dry areas sometimes only late in winter to early in spring (Manning, 2009; Le Roux, et al, 2005; Leistner, (Ed.), 2000; Manning and Goldblatt, 1996; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; iNaturalist; https://pza.sanbi.org).