The healing properties of the plants described in this article have been known to mankind for many centuries. Galen (ancient Roman physician) mentioned his healing abilities. Dioscorides and Hippocrates called him "sacred grass." The ancient Egyptians were convinced that this plant prolongs life. The ancient Greeks called it the "grass of immortality."
All these amazing qualities are attributed to unclear sage. In the Middle Ages it was so popular that it was even used everyday. Its leaves were added to almost all dishes. Then it was believed that due to this plant digestion improves. Sage (Salvia) from Latin literally translates as "grass of life."
Varieties of Sage
Sage is the common name for a plant that includes hundreds of species and subspecies. It has bright violet-blue inflorescences, thanks to which it is impossible not to notice it in the field. It grows in low bushes (30-40 cm). Dark green narrow and elongated leaves are slightly rough to the touch.
Sage is whorled (photo is presented in the article), oak and meadow have many common features. They differ in a greater degree by the arrangement of flowers. For example, in the sage, the oak-tree flowers are gathered in dense panicles, in the meadow, they have a rare arrangement on the stem, and in the whorled, they sit in tiers, like skirts.
In Russia, meadow, oak (wild), whorled and medicinal varieties of sage grow. Almost all of them have the same properties and are used in traditional medicine. However, it is believed that the most beneficial substances in medicinal sage.
Places of growth
Whorled sage grows in open areas, in dry meadows, near farm buildings and near housing, along highways and railways, along embankments, on clay cliffs and limestone slopes.
Sage is whorled, like many other varieties, in Southern and Eastern Europe, Iran, Turkey, Iraq and Russia, where it is more common in its European part, in Western Siberia and the Caucasus.
Sage whorled: description
Sage whorled - a shrub of the genus Sage from the family Iasnatkovye. This is a perennial plant with a height of 20-100 cm. Sage root is woody, powerful. The stem is either branched or simple, slightly pubescent. The flowers arranged in whorls are purple-blue or lilac-pink. Inflorescences are simple, most often with one or two pairs of long branches, with 20-40-flowered false whorls. The tubular calyx is often lilac, the corolla is purple, but it also happens to be white.
Seeds of elliptical shape are smooth, light brown or dark brown in color, up to 5 mm long. Flowering occurs in June-September. In August-September, the fruits ripen.
Sage is a good honey plant. Bees from it actively collect both pollen and nectar. He has so much nectar secretion that often the corolla tubes are filled to 1/3 of the volume. Harvest of honey from 1 ha reaches 300 kg. It turns out transparent, beautiful amber color, with excellent gustatory qualities honey from unclear sage.
Application
In the last century, the plant was one of the most popular spices. Its leaves have a strong aroma with a specific smell of coolness.
As a seasoning for meat fatty dishes, it is used in the Caucasus. In Central Asia and Western Europe, dry whorled sage leaves are used in the production of beer, for its flavoring. It is also used as a spicy-aromatic seasoning for dishes of poultry and game, to the ear, to meat and cheese, as well as to cold meat salads.
Sage is also used in cosmetology in the treatment of problem skin, as well as to strengthen and enhance hair growth. Sage is also used as a perfume.
Healing properties
Excellent healing properties of clary sage, as well as other varieties, provided the plant with the glory of a green doctor.
For medicinal purposes, sage is used both externally and internally. Use it in the form of infusions, decoctions, compresses, baths and inhalations.
Products made from sage are used in the following cases:
- with gastrointestinal, infectious and respiratory diseases (use decoctions, infusions and tinctures);
- with frequent colds, loss of strength, depression and neurosis (added to tea);
- with skin diseases, stomatitis, periodontal disease, rheumatism, scrofula, etc.
Picking sage
There are two fees: summer and autumn.
In early summer, whorled sage, like other species, is most saturated with essential oils, in connection with which the flowers and leaves of the plant prepared during this period are most valued. Harvesting begins at the beginning of the blooming of inflorescences. High-quality dark green leaves are selected for drying, which break down along with the cuttings. And inflorescences are collected in such a way that only the lower flowers bloom on the cut branches.
The second harvest can begin at the end of September, when the plant will recover after the summer heat. By that time, the leaves grow back on the bushes and the flowers begin to bloom again.
Sage should be dried under a canopy in the open air.
Finally
Sage has, like many other plants, its contraindications to use. You can not take funds made from it, with individual intolerance to the components that make up the kidney disease, amenorrhea, hypotension, breastfeeding and pregnancy.