Isodon effusus

(aka: Rabdosia effusus (longituba), Plectranthus effusus) From the Japanese mountains of Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu comes this woodland member of the salvia family...formerly Rabdosia longituba, before its reassignment to the genus Plectranthus, then to the genus Isodon. The stems of the clumping Isodon effusus rise throughout the summer, reaching 2' tall by September when they are topped with 1' long, airy panicles containing hundreds of pendent, purple tubes. Isodon effusus is as hard to describe as it is to pronounce, but finding anything that flowers in the fall woodland is difficult...simply superb!