''Salvia hirtella'' is a species of flowering plant in the sage/mint family Lamiaceae, native to the

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

ian province of Cotopaxi, found both north and south of the equator. Its native habitat is limited to higher altitudes in the Andes mountains, with most plants collected around elevation. ''Salvia hirtella'' is an

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, which ...

branching shrub that reaches high in cultivation, rooting at the nodes when branches and inflorescences become heavy and bend to the ground. It has glossy, triangular grass-green leaves that are graduated in size, averaging about wide and long. The flowers are rich orange-red, long, growing in whorls of twelve on a inflorescence. The calyx and the inflorescence stem are covered in dark purple hairs with glands, justifying its Latin

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''hirtella'' (hairy), with the calyces remaining long after blooming.

Notes

hirtella ''Hirtella'' is a genus of 110 species of woody trees in family Chrysobalanaceae. It was first described as a genus by Linnaeus in 1753. ''Hirtella'' naturally occurs in tropical forests throughout Latin America, the West Indies, southeast Afri ...

Flora of Ecuador Taxa named by Martin Vahl {{Salvia-stub