SAGE. flORTUS JAXWfelCENSIS. J$| 



Sabaca. See Avocado Pear. 



Saffron, Bastard See Bastard Saffron. 



SAGE. SALVIA. 



Cl. 2, OR. 1. Diandria monogynia. Nat. or. Verticillata. 



This generic name is derived from the Latin word solvere, on account of its healing 

 qualities. 



Gen. char. Calyx a one-leafed tubular perianth, with a two-lipped mouth ; corolla 

 one-petaled, unequal; slamens two filaments, very short, fastened" transversely 

 to a pedicel; the pistil has a four- cleft germ, a filiform style, and bifid stigma; there 

 is no pericarp ; calyx slightly converging, having the seeds in its bottom, which 

 are four, and roundish. Two species are indigenousta Jamaica, and the officinalis, 

 or garden sage, has been introduced. 



1. OFFICINALIS. officinal. 



Leaves lanceolate-ovate, crenulate; whorls few-flowered ; calyxes mucronate. 



The common garden sage is a branching shrub, about two feet in height, and, since 

 its introduction, has thriven well in Jamaica. 



Sage has a strong fragrant smell, and a warm bitterish aromatic taste; formerly in 

 great repute, but at present considered of but little importance. Van Swieten found. 

 it efficacious in stopping night sweats infused in wine or spirit, and a strong infusion 

 in water has been found equally successful. Van Sivieten also found it projRjr for re- 

 straining the flow of milk in the breasts of women, after they had weaned their children. 

 / -It proves of service in debility of stomach, and has a power of resisting putrefaction, 

 having considerable antiseptic virtues. It is used in sauce for strong meats. 



2. OCCIDENTALS. WESTERN. 



Spicata repens, melissa minor i folio, floribus fasciculatis alternis. 

 Browne, p. 117. 



Leaves ovate-serrate ; spikes loose; bractes cordate, sub-triflorous. 



Root fibrous, annual ; stem ascending, branched, a foot high, diffused, knotty, 

 even ; leaves shortly acuminate, hispid above, smooth beneath ; petioles four-cor- 

 nered, red, pubescent; bractes opposite, alternate, awned ; within them two or three 

 small blue flowers. Calyx angular, striated, covered with glandular hairs; style the 

 length of the upper lip ; seeds two, one of which onl}' ripens, and that is ovate, com- 

 pressed, and black. It differs from the other species in loose spikes and remote flowers. 

 Sw. Browne calls it the creeping sweet-scented sage, which he says is found creeping 

 under every hedge and bush in the lowlands, running frequently the length of two or 

 three feet, always rooting at the lower joints; it has a faint smell of balm when first 

 pulled, and may be naturally substituted in the room of that plant, though it is not so 

 strong a cephalic. 



3. TENELLA, 



