Salvia officinalis

Salvia officinalis, the common sage or sage, is a perennial, evergreen subshrub, with woody stems, grayish leaves, and blue to purplish flowers. It is a member of the mint family Lamiaceae and native to the 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.

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
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

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.[1]

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.[2] 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.[1][3] S. officinalis has been classified under many other scientific names over the years, including six different names since 1940 alone.[4] 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.[2]

History
Painting from Koehler's Medicinal Plants (1887)

Salvia officinalis has been used since ancient times for warding off evil, snakebites, increasing women's fertility, and more. The Romans referred to sage as the "holy herb," and employed it in their religious rituals.[5] Theophrastus wrote about two different sages, a wild undershrub he called sphakos, and a similar cultivated plant he called elelisphakos. Pliny the Elder said the latter plant was called salvia by the Romans, and used as a diuretic, a local anesthetic for the skin, a 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.[6] 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.[7]

The plant had a high reputation throughout the Middle Ages, with many sayings referring to its healing properties and value.[8] It was sometimes called S. salvatrix (sage the savior). Dioscorides, Pliny, and Galen all recommended sage as a diuretic, hemostatic, emmenagogue, and tonic.[7] Le Menagier de Paris, in addition to recommending cold sage soup and sage sauce for poultry, recommends infusion of sage for washing hands at table.[9] John Gerard's Herball (1597) states that sage "is singularly good for the head and brain, it quickeneth the senses and memory, strengtheneth the sinews, restoreth health to those that have the palsy, and taketh away shakey trembling of the members."[10] Gervase Markham's The English Huswife (1615) gives a recipe for a tooth-powder of sage and salt.[11] It appears in recipes for 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.[7]

Uses

Culinary use
The top side of a sage leaf – 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 parsley, rosemary, and thyme (as in the folk song "Scarborough Fair"). It has a savory, slightly peppery flavor. Sage appears in the 14th and 15th centuries in a "Cold Sage Sauce", known in French, English and Lombard cuisine, probably traceable to its appearance in Le Viandier de Taillevent.[12] It appears in many European cuisines, notably Italian, Balkan and Middle Eastern cookery. In Italian cuisine, it is an essential condiment for saltimbocca and other dishes, favored with fish. In British and American cooking, it is traditionally served as sage and onion stuffing, an accompaniment to roast turkey or chicken at Christmas or Thanksgiving Day, and for Sunday roast dinners. Other dishes include pork casserole, Sage Derby cheese and 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.

Research

Extracts of Salvia officinalis and S. lavandulaefolia are under preliminary research for their potential effects on human brain function.[13][14] The thujone present in Salvia extracts may be neurotoxic.[14]

Cultivars

In favourable conditions in the garden, S. officinalis can grow to a substantial size (1 square metre or more), but a number of cultivars are more compact. As such they are valued as small ornamental flowering shrubs, rather than for their herbal properties. Some provide low 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'[15] and 'Purpurascens'[16] have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.[17]

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

See also

References
  1. Harrison, Lorraine (2012). RHS Latin for gardeners. United Kingdom: Mitchell Beazley. p. 224. ISBN 9781845337315.
  2. Clebsch, Betsy; Carol D. Barner (2003). The New Book of Salvias. Timber Press. p. 216. ISBN 978-0-88192-560-9.
  3. Stearn, William T. (2004). Botanical Latin. Timber Press (OR). p. 456. ISBN 978-0-88192-627-9.
  4. Sutton, John (2004). The Gardener's Guide to Growing Salvias. Workman Publishing Company. p. 17. ISBN 978-0-88192-671-2.
  5. Greer, John Michael (2017). The Encyclopedia of Natural Magic (First ed.). Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn Publications. p. 185. ISBN 9780738706740.
  6. Watters, L. L. (1901). An Analytical Investigation of Garden Sage (Salvia officinalis, Linne). New York: Columbia University.
  7. Kintzios, Spiridon E. (2000). Sage: The Genus Salvia. CRC Press. pp. 10–11. ISBN 978-90-5823-005-8.
  8. An Anglo-Saxon manuscript read "Why should man die when he has sage?" Kintzios, p. 10
  9. "Le Menagier de Paris". Hinson, Janet, translator. 1393.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  10. 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.
  11. Markham, Gervase (1615). The English House-wife.
  12. Le Viandier de Taillevent: 14th Century Cookery, Based on the Vatican Library Manuscript. Translated by Prescott, James. Eugene, Oregon: Alfarhaugr Publishing Society. 1989. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-9623719-0-5. Archived from the original on 2021-03-02. Retrieved 2018-03-12.
  13. Miroddi M, Navarra M, Quattropani MC, Calapai F, Gangemi S, Calapai G (2014). "Systematic review of clinical trials assessing pharmacological properties of Salvia species on memory, cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease". CNS Neurosci Ther. 20 (6): 485–95. doi:10.1111/cns.12270. PMC 6493168. PMID 24836739.
  14. Lopresti AL (2017). "Salvia (Sage): A Review of its Potential Cognitive-Enhancing and Protective Effects". Drugs in R&D. 17 (1): 53–64. doi:10.1007/s40268-016-0157-5. PMC 5318325. PMID 27888449.
  15. "RHS Plant Selector - Salvia officinalis 'Icterina'". Retrieved 5 March 2021.
  16. "RHS Plant Selector - Salvia officinalis 'Purpurascens'". Retrieved 5 March 2021.
  17. "AGM Plants - Ornamental" (PDF). Royal Horticultural Society. July 2017. p. 94. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
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