The dried leaves of Salvia officinalis Linne (Fam. Labiatae)." U. S. VIII.

Sage is a perennial low shrub or sub shrub, up to two feet high, with a quadrangular, pubescent, branching, shrubby stem, furnished with opposite, petiolate, ovate-lanceolate, crenulate, wrinkled leaves, of a grayish-green color, sometimes tinged with red or purple. The flowers are blue, variegated with white and purple, and are disposed on long terminal spikes, in distant whorls, each composed of a few flowers, and provided with ovate, acute, deciduous bracts. The calyx is tubular and striated, with two lips, of which the upper has three acute teeth, the under two. The corolla is tubular, bilabiate, ringent, with the upper lip concave, and the lower divided into three rounded lobes, of which the middle is the largest. The filaments are supported upon short pedicels, to which they are affixed transversely at the middle. The fruits are black nutlets borne in open cups.

Sage grows spontaneously in Southern Europe, and is cultivated abundantly in our gardens. There are several varieties, differing in the size and color of their flowers, but all possessing the same medicinal properties. The flowering period is in June, at which time the plant should be cut, and dried in a shady place. The leaves were officially described as " long and stoutly petiolate, the blade elliptical or ovate-oblong, 3 to 7 Cm. long, obtuse or sub acute at the summit, rounded or sub cordate at the base, finely crenulate, thick, grayish-green, very pubescent, especially on the under surface, conspicuously reticulate-veined; odor aromatic; taste aromatic, bitter, and somewhat astringent." U. S. VIII.

Within recent years sage of commerce has been adulterated with or substituted by Spanish sage and Greek sage. Spanish sage consists of the leaves of Salvia lavanduloefolia Vahl., a perennial herb indigenous to Mexico. Its leaves differ from those of true sage in being usually smaller, whorled on the stems and having a less distinctly crenulate margin and a much smoother surface. Greek Sage is the leaves of Salvia triloba L., a perennial herb indigenous to countries bordering the Mediterranean. It may readily be distinguished from sage by having usually broader, thicker, shorter and more woolly leaves with a less pronounced crenulate margin and by its odor which is distinct from that of true sage.

Both the leaves and the flowering tops of sage have a strong, fragrant odor, and a warm, bitterish, aromatic, somewhat astringent taste. They abound in a volatile oil, which may be obtained separate by distillation with water. Muir (J. Chem. 8., xxxvii, p. 678) found it to contain a terpene boiling at 156� C., another boiling at 171� C., thujone, C₁₀H₁₆O, a liquid boiling at from 197� to 203� C., and ordinary camphor, C₁₀H₁₆O. In the fresh oil the first terpene predominates. On standing, the amount of thujone increases, and then the camphor. The oil from English leaves contains also a sesquiterpene, C₁₅H₂₄, of the boiling point 260� C. Wallach (Ann. Ch. Ph., 1889) states that the first portions contain pinene and cineol, but the greater portion consists of thujone, C₁₀H₁₆O (formerly called salviol). Ferrous sulphate strikes a black color with infusion of sage.

Although the Salvia officinalis was the only species of this genus which was recognized by the U. S. P. VIII, many other species share the feeble medicinal properties of sage. S. pratensis L., S. aethiopis L., S, glutinosa L., and 8. Sclarea L., or clarry, have been officially recognized in Europe, but are less agreeable than is S. officinalis and are not much used; the leaves of S. Sclarea are said to be introduced into wine in order to impart to it a muscatel taste.

The seeds of various sages contain enough farinaceous and mucilaginous material to make them useful as food. In the Western United States the ordinary sages of the plains are highly esteemed for fattening cattle, which eat their ripened tops freely (these sages must be distinguished from the so-called " sage brushes " of the West, which belong to the genus Artemisia). Chia is the seeds of one or more species of salvia largely used in Mexico and Southern Arizona by the natives as food.

It is affirmed that the variety known as Chia pinoli is yielded by S. columbarioe Benth. (see Report U. . Greogr. Surveys, 100th Merid., vol. vi, 48). S. Chia was described in the Farmacopea Mexicana as a new species, yielding chia, but Mariano Bascena affirms (La Naturalezaf 1881) that the common chia-yielding sage of Mexico is S. polystachya Ort., while Chia azul is yielded by S. patens Cav. Guibourt is probably in error in ascribing chia to S. hispanica L. The chia seeds are used as food and for the making of mucilaginous poultices.

For description of these seeds see (A. J. P., May, 1882, 227-229). The European species, Salvia verticillata L., S. Verbenacea L., S. horminum L. and S. viridis L., all indigenous to Central or Southern Europe, are also noted for the mucilaginous character of their seeds, and have on this account been employed to remove foreign substances from the eye. S. Verbenacea is sparingly naturalized in waste places in the Middle and Southern States.