Sage, also known as: Yangsu grass, garden sage, common sage, pit su, purple flower, Iwami wear, etc., is a plant of the family Labiaceae and sage genus. It is native to southern Europe and the Mediterranean coast. China is mainly distributed in Anhui, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Hubei, Jiangxi, Fujian, Taiwan, Guangdong, Guangxi and other places of the hillside, forest, grass, roadside, waterside. Its main varieties are cinnabar grass, spring salvia and so on. The flower language of sage is family happiness, purple represents wisdom, red represents the heart burning, blue represents reason, and pineapple sage represents warm thoughts.
photo by Xiaobin
Sage is an annual herb. Its stem is erect, quadrangular and can be 40–60 cm tall. The lower leaves of the stem are two pinnate compound leaves with long stalks, and the upper part is a pinnate compound leaf with short stalks. Apical leaflets lanceolate and prismatic. The flowers are inflorescences, 2-6 flowers/wheels, forming a total inflorescence and a total conical inflorescence. The peduncle is short and hairy. Calyxes are bilabial and tubular. Corolla purple, red, blue, white, bilabial, oval upper lip, three lobes on the lower lip, inverted heart shape of the middle lobe. The fruit is brown, smooth, oval in small nuts. It usually blooms from June to September.
Sage has a strong fragrance and is commonly used in the West as kitchen herbs, essential oils, sachets, perfumes, etc. It has the effect of nourishing, stimulating appetite, relieving flatulence, preventing spasms, antibacterial and antiseptic, diuretic and other effects, and is also used as a panacea.
Sage is also a traditional Chinese medicine. It is a whole herb into the medicine, flat, bitter taste, hard, with clear heat and dampness, blood circulation, detoxification and swelling and other effects, can treat jaundice, white diarrhea, wet tropical, menstrual irregularities, dysmenorrhea, sores and boils, bruises and so on. Decoction is taken internally.