HERB GARDEN ~ HISTORY & USES
Sage (Salvia officinalis)
Medicinal: The name salvia comes from salvere, Latin for 'to heal'. Sage is known for its healing value.
Garden of Healing®
For millennia, both common sage (Salvia officinalis) and Greek sage (Salvia fruticosa) have been valued as medicinal plants.
The Ancient Greeks and Romans used the leaves of both species as compresses for the treatment of wounds.
The oldest reference is a depiction of Salvia fruticosa on a fresco at knossos in Crete, which has been dated at about 1400 BC.
Sage is a small perennial evergreen subshrub, with woody stems, grayish leaves, and blue to purplish flowers.
The name salvia in fact comes from the latin, salvere, meaning to heal. It is a member of the mint family, Lamiaceae, and is native to the Mediterranean region and commonly grown as a kitchen and medicinal herb or as an ornamental garden plant.
The Romans brought sage to Britain and, after being valued for centuries in this country for its antibacterial properties, it began to be referred to as a cooking herb in Tudor times.
By 1597, when Gerard's Herball was published, nine different sages were mentioned, including S. pratensis and S. verbeneca, the two species native to Britain.
The ornamental sages first came from South Africa - mentioned in 1768 by Philip Miller, curator of the Physic Garden in London's Chelsea - and then from Latin America, as plant hunters roamed the globe for new species in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Salvia officinalis is also known as Sage, Common sage, Garden sage, Kitchen sage, Culinary sage, Dalmatian sage, Purple sage, Broadleaf sage and Red sage.
© 2009 The Garden of Healing® Company. All Rights Reserved.
Sage (Salvia officinalis)
Medicinal: The name salvia comes from salvere, Latin for 'to heal'. Sage is known for its healing value.
Garden of Healing®
For millennia, both common sage (Salvia officinalis) and Greek sage (Salvia fruticosa) have been valued as medicinal plants.
The Ancient Greeks and Romans used the leaves of both species as compresses for the treatment of wounds.
The oldest reference is a depiction of Salvia fruticosa on a fresco at knossos in Crete, which has been dated at about 1400 BC.
Sage is a small perennial evergreen subshrub, with woody stems, grayish leaves, and blue to purplish flowers.
The name salvia in fact comes from the latin, salvere, meaning to heal. It is a member of the mint family, Lamiaceae, and is native to the Mediterranean region and commonly grown as a kitchen and medicinal herb or as an ornamental garden plant.
The Romans brought sage to Britain and, after being valued for centuries in this country for its antibacterial properties, it began to be referred to as a cooking herb in Tudor times.
By 1597, when Gerard's Herball was published, nine different sages were mentioned, including S. pratensis and S. verbeneca, the two species native to Britain.
The ornamental sages first came from South Africa - mentioned in 1768 by Philip Miller, curator of the Physic Garden in London's Chelsea - and then from Latin America, as plant hunters roamed the globe for new species in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Salvia officinalis is also known as Sage, Common sage, Garden sage, Kitchen sage, Culinary sage, Dalmatian sage, Purple sage, Broadleaf sage and Red sage.
© 2009 The Garden of Healing® Company. All Rights Reserved.
