I've got two forms of dichlamys from Robin, and the scarlet one bloomed well for me. The red one hasn't bloomed yet.

I get the feeling it is not as hardy as microphylla, to which it is related. It has bracts that remind me of the cardinalis form of fulgens, and would not be surprised if it is closely related to that one also.

It looks to me to be somewhat of a ground cover, and likes sun, but with access to water. It was very thirsty during the hot dry summer of 2007 and responded well to repotting and fertilization. It bloomed well last year.

You are in a good location to test it.

As Richard said, there are two forms. Both seemed to enjoy the cool, cloudy, and rather wet summer in England. The smaller form flowered well until an early snowfall last night finished it off. The larger form, the red one, grew into a complete monster. Stems 2 metres long in all directions, and not so many flowers. Some of these stems rooted along the ground. I will only keep the small form, as this is quite compact, and does not spread. Neither are hardy here. I shall only keep the small form.

It sounds like I have the small one and I'm well pleased with it. Thanks to both of you for the tips. The flower does look like fulgens, doesn't it.

So when is a good time to take cuttings? It has held up fairly nicely and maybe with a little food in January it will grow strongly enough to provide cuttings.

Mine look rather weak right now. I'd wait until you get a good spring flush before even trying.

After all this time, it seems as if what we have is not Salvia dichlamys at all! What we have may just be a form or something very closely related to Salvia fulgens, with smaller flowers.

I have had interesting communications with a botany student at the Guadalajara university in Mexico. Original descriptions and herbarium specimens of the "real" dichlamys do not fit with what we have. From a photo, the "real" dichlamys has purple flowers, somewhat resembling microphylla!

I just took cuttings from my blooming plant, I guess I should change the tag. Whatever it is called this was not a good year for it. It suffered in the drought all summer and was so badly whacked I forgot I had it for months. Then one day there was this plant with really cool orange flowers in an unexpected place. It is quite pretty but I still haven't figured out exactly what it wants.

I remember the herbarium specimens of dichlamys as being sparse, with not much material. The George B. Hinton collection at the Field museum notes the flower color as wine red. It was collected near Zitacuaro, Michoacan near a forest in 1933.

Salvias dichlamys, fulgens, and microphylla are all closely related, making discussion difficult.

Mine has similarly made a comeback lately.

Can see easily the relationships with my "dichlamys" with fulgens, and perhaps gesneriiflora.....but microphylla??? However, the photo I saw of dichlamys from Mexico, had purple flowers which did look a bit like a purple microphylla.........sadly, cannot currently access this photo currently. Reckon that I may have a small, compact form of fulgens, rather than a new species.

The name dichlamys fits with the deeply cut lobes on the lower lip, which reminds me of the wattles on a rooster.

The problem with describing the flower color as wine red is that it can run from a scarlet to a purplish brown or lavender red. I'd associate wine red with the color of burgundy or chianti

Check out the image below the map at
http://sweetgum.nybg.org/vh/specimen.php?irn=392292

Note that it is the TYPE specimen

Here is a link that might be useful: Salvia dichlamys at the Virtual Herbarium of the New York Botanical Garden