Salvia officinalis

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the culinary herb known as "sage". For other uses, see Sage (disambiguation).
"Common sage" redirects here. For the band, see Common Sage.

Salvia officinalis

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Lamiales
Family: Lamiaceae
Genus: Salvia
Species:
S. officinalis
Binomial name
Salvia officinalis
Single flower in close-up

Salvia officinalis, the common sage or sage, is a perennial, evergreen

Mediterranean region, though it has been naturalized in many places throughout the world. It has a long history of medicinal and culinary use, and in modern times it has been used as an ornamental garden plant. The common name "sage" is also used for closely related species and cultivars
.

Names

Salvia officinalis has numerous common names. Some of the best-known are sage, common sage, garden sage, golden sage, kitchen sage, true sage, culinary sage, Dalmatian sage, and broadleaf sage. Cultivated forms include purple sage and red sage. The specific epithet officinalis refers to plants with a well-established medicinal or culinary value.[2]

Taxonomy

Salvia officinalis was described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753. It has been grown for centuries in the Old World for its food and healing properties, and was often described in old herbals for the many miraculous properties attributed to it.[3] The binary name, officinalis, refers to the plant's medicinal use—the officina was the traditional storeroom of a monastery where herbs and medicines were stored.[2][4] S. officinalis has been classified under many other scientific names over the years, including six different names since 1940 alone.[5] It is the type species for the genus Salvia.

Description

Sage leaves are covered with fine hairs called trichomes

Cultivars are quite variable in size, leaf and flower color, and foliage pattern, with many variegated leaf types. The Old World type grows to approximately 60 cm (2 ft) tall and wide, with lavender flowers most common, though they can also be white, pink, or purple. The plant flowers in late spring or summer. The leaves are oblong, ranging in size up to 65 mm (2+1⁄2 in) long by 25 mm (1 in) wide. Leaves are grey-green, rugose on the upper side, and nearly white underneath due to the many short soft hairs. Modern cultivars include leaves with purple, rose, cream, and yellow in many variegated combinations.[3] The common sage gives its name to the grayish-green color sage, due to the distinctive color of its leaves.

History

Painting from Koehler's Medicinal Plants (1887)

Salvia officinalis has been used since ancient times for

styptic, and for other uses. Charlemagne recommended the plant for cultivation in the early Middle Ages, and during the Carolingian Empire, it was cultivated in monastery gardens.[7] Walafrid Strabo described it in his poem Hortulus as having a sweet scent and being useful for many human ailments—he went back to the Greek root for the name and called it lelifagus.[8]

The plant had a high reputation throughout the Middle Ages, with many sayings referring to its healing properties and value.

Four Thieves Vinegar, a blend of herbs which was supposed to ward off the plague. In past centuries, it was also used for hair care, insect bites and wasp stings, nervous conditions, mental conditions, oral preparations for inflammation of the mouth, tongue and throat, and also to reduce fevers.[8]

Uses

Culinary use

trichomes
are visible
The underside of a sage leaf – more trichomes are visible on this side
A specimen of Salvia officinalis grown in a flowerpot
Sage seeds are very small and almost spherical in shape

In Britain, sage has for generations been listed as one of the essential herbs, along with

Lincolnshire sausages. Despite the common use of traditional and available herbs in French cuisine
, sage never found favor there.

Essential oil

Main article: Sage oil

Common sage is grown in parts of Europe for distillation of an essential oil, although other species such as Salvia fruticosa may also be harvested and distilled with it.[citation needed]

Research

neurotoxic.[15]

Cultivars

In favourable conditions in the garden, S. officinalis can grow to a substantial size (1 square metre or more), but a number of

ground cover, especially in sunny dry environments. Like many herbs they can be killed by a cold wet winter, especially if the soil is not well drained. But they are easily propagated from summer cuttings
, and some cultivars are produced from seeds.

Named cultivars include:

  • 'Alba', a white-flowered cultivar
  • 'Aurea', golden sage
  • 'Berggarten', a cultivar with large leaves, which rarely blooms, extending the useful life of the leaves
  • 'Extrakta', has leaves with higher oil concentrations
  • 'Icterina', a cultivar with yellow-green variegated leaves
  • 'Lavandulaefolia', a small leaved cultivar
  • 'Purpurascens' ('Purpurea'), a purple-leafed cultivar
  • 'Tricolor', a cultivar with white, purple and green variegated leaves

'Icterina'[16] and 'Purpurascens'[17] have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.[18]

  • 'Berggarten'
    'Berggarten'
  • 'Icterina'
    'Icterina'
  • 'Purpurascens'
    'Purpurascens'
  • 'Tricolor'
    'Tricolor'

See also

References

  1. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2014-1.RLTS.T203260A2762648.en
    . Retrieved 23 January 2024.
  2. ^
    ISBN 9781845337315
    .
  3. ^
    ISBN 978-0-88192-560-9
    .
  4. ISBN 978-0-88192-627-9
    .
  5. ISBN 978-0-88192-671-2
    .
  6. ISBN 9780738706740
    .
  7. ^ Watters, L. L. (1901). An Analytical Investigation of Garden Sage (Salvia officinalis, Linne). New York: Columbia University.
  8. ^
    ISBN 978-90-5823-005-8
    .
  9. ^ An Anglo-Saxon manuscript read "Why should man die when he has sage?" Kintzios, p. 10
  10. ^ "Le Menagier de Paris". Hinson, Janet, translator. 1393.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  11. ^ Grieve, Maud (1971). A Modern Herbal: The Medicinal, Culinary, Cosmetic and Economic Properties, Cultivation and Folk-lore of Herbs, Grasses, Fungi, Shrubs, & Trees with All Their Modern Scientific Uses, Volume 2.
  12. ^ Markham, Gervase (1615). The English House-wife.
  13. ISBN 978-0-9623719-0-5. Archived from the original
    on 2021-03-02. Retrieved 2018-03-12.
  14. PMID 24836739
    .
  15. ^
    PMID 27888449
    .
  16. ^ "RHS Plant Selector - Salvia officinalis 'Icterina'". Retrieved 5 March 2021.
  17. ^ "RHS Plant Selector - Salvia officinalis 'Purpurascens'". Retrieved 5 March 2021.
  18. ^ "AGM Plants - Ornamental" (PDF). Royal Horticultural Society. July 2017. p. 94. Retrieved 12 October 2018.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Salvia officinalis.
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