Salvia aerea is a perennial plant that is native to Sichuan, Guizhou, and Yunnan provinces in China, typically growing on hillsides, grasslands, forests, and thickets at elevation. It grows tall, with mostly basal leaves that are typically long and wide, though they can reach up to by .
The inflorescences are racemes up to long, with a corolla that comes in a wide variety of colors: orange, purple, white, and dark blue. The plant is used medicinally.