PLANTS

Sage

Salvia officinalis

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A Mediterranean shrubby herb with grey-green pungent leaves used in cooking, herbal medicine, and traditional Native American smudging.

Description

Garden sage forms a low woody shrub with grey-green velvety lance-shaped leaves and short spikes of small blue-purple flowers in early summer. Variegated and purple-leaved forms exist.

Cultivation

Sage prefers full sun, well-drained gritty soil, and only occasional watering. In hot dry climates it lives many years; in wet winters it can rot.

Uses

Used in stuffings, sausages, and Italian saltimbocca, sage is also a longstanding sore-throat remedy and infusion. Smudge bundles of white sage are sacred in many North American cultures.

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