The leaves resemble a Salvia, The flowers are not Arizona blue sage however. The leaves have soft downey hair which gives the plant a silvery look. The flower petal hangs down with 4 male stalks and a female stalk suspended over it.
I never could find this. It seems like some kind of Gesneriad but that's as close as I could get. What a pretty little thing!
I don't think it is a gesneriad. We found the plant thrown away, but it had such a pretty flower, so we rescued it. I am worried that it is not hardy enough to survive our winter, so I have kept it in a pot. It may be a Mediterranean plant.
Could you tell from the way it was discarded if it had been "weeded out" or if it had been cultivated but no longer wanted? Abandoning the search for a matching Gesneriad, the bloom bears so much resemblance to various Clerodendrum, especially the 3rd pic for Clerodendrum myricoides: http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/carr/verben.htm and Rotheca louwalbertsii: http://pza.sanbi.org/rotheca-louwalbertsii The above genus & species names seem to be floating around synonymously, after looking at various searches. What else is Verbenaceae family? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verbenaceae Apparently that family is in flux with Lamiaceae, into which Clerodendrum and Rotheca have been moved. If it the answer lies within Lamiaceae, but it is not a Clerodendrum or Rotheca, I'm out of time for investigating today.
Thanks purpleinop for searching so hard, it does look a lot like this, it was a cultivated plant, because it had a dried up rootball in a pot. I have seen these plants lower down on the plain, in France sometimes planted in public areas, if I go to a garden centre down the hill, I will ask them. It certainly does have a resemblance to Clerodendrum myricoides. I think it is drought resistant, but I am not sure if it will resist the cold up here, so until I am sure, I will not plant it outside. I still have not got an exact match, I will get hold of a better camera and try to get some better pictures.
Please also get a pic of a whole individual, if possible, and some foliage shots. Somebody should recognize. I've had plants that took 4 years to ID but that was because of waiting for blooms. That hurdle was jumped from the beginning with your mystery plant so it's likely somebody would know soon.
Purpleinopp, I managed to take some better pictures with another camera. To the right of the flower is a bud. Here you get a better view of the leaves aargh, this one is not in focus Here is a closeup of the leaves that are left after the flowering Sorry about the pic that is out of focus.