SAL 



OR, BOTANICAT. DICTIONARY. 



SAL 



519 



plants in the ground are destroyed. The side-shoots and 

 tops of these plants may be gathered in the summer and 

 dried, if intended for tea : for most other purposes they are 

 better when gathered green. Several of the species are so 

 tender, that they cannot endure the open air in our winter: 

 such must be planted in pots filled with fresh light sandy 

 earth, and placed under a hot-bed frame, that they may have 

 a great share of fresh air whenever the season is mild ; for 

 when too much drawn, they seldom flower well, and make 

 but an insignificant appearance. In summer they must be 

 exposed among other plants, in some well-sheltered situation, 

 and should be often refreshed with water in warm weather. 

 They should be new-potted at least twice every summer. 

 The annual plants can only be propagated by seeds, sown in 

 a bed of light earth, where they are to remain. 



2. Salvia Dentata ; Tooth-leaved Sage. Leaves linear- 

 oblong; tooth-pinnatifid ; whorls two-flowered; calicine seg- 

 ments blunt. Native of the Cape. Culture, fyc. of the 



tender sorts. This, and the species referred to this, being na- 

 tives of a warmer country, require protection in winter. They 

 are easily propagated by cuttings in the spring and summer 

 months. If they are planted early in the spring, it will be 

 the best way to plant them in pots, which should be plunged 

 into a very moderate hot-bed ; and if they are shaded from 

 the sun in the heat of the day, and gently refreshed with 

 water as they may require it, they will have put out good 

 roots in about two months, when they should be inured gra- 

 dually to the open air, into which they must be removed soon 

 after. The cuttings which are raised early in the season, will 

 become strong plants before winter, arid will be in a better 

 condition to resist the cold than those which are weak. If 

 the cuttings be planted in summer, they will require no arti- 

 ficial heat; so that if planted on a bed of fresh loamy earth, 

 and covered close down with a bell or hand glass, and 

 shaded from the sun in the heat of the day, giving them now 

 and then a little water, they will take root freely, and when 

 they begin to shoot, they should have free air admitted to 

 them, by raising the glass on one side, and so gradually 

 exposing them to the open air. When the plants are we'l 

 rooted, they should be each transplanted into a separate 

 small pot, filled with fresh light earth, and placed in a shady 

 situation till they have taken new root; then they may be 

 removed to a sheltered situation, where they may remain till 

 the approach of frost, when they must be carried into shelter, 

 and in winter treated in the same manner as other hardy 

 green-house plants, which only require protection from frost; 

 observing not to overwater them during the cold weather, 

 but in the summer water will be required often in the open 



3. Salvia Cretica; Cretan Sage. Leaves linear-lanceolate ; 

 flowers two-styled ; calices two-leaved. It is shrubby, and 

 flowers from June to August. Native of Candia. 



4. Salvia Lyrata; Lyre-leaved Sage. Root-leaves lyrate, 

 toothed ; helmet of the corolla very^hort. Native of Virgi- 

 nia and Carolina. See the second species. 



5. Salvia Leucantha. Leaves linear-lanceolate, crenulate, 

 wrinkled ; flowers whorl-spiked ; calices tomentose. Native 



Mexico. See the second species. 



6. Salvia Habligiana. Leaves linear, quite entire, pubes- 

 nt, sessile; flowers whorl-spiked; bractes ovate, acuminate. 



Native of Mount Tauris. 



7. Salvia Officinalis ; Garden Sage. Leaves lanceolate- 

 ovate, crenulate; whorls few-flowered; calices mucronate. 

 This is a branching shrub, about two feet in height. Native 

 of rough stony ground in the south of Europe and Barbary, 

 flowering in our gardens in June and July. There are nume- 



VOL. n. 109. 



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rous varieties of this species; as the Common Green Sage, 

 the Wormwood Sage, the Green Sage with a variegated leaf; 

 the Red Sage with a variegated leaf, the Painted or Party- 

 coloured Sage, with red leaves, striped with white ; and the 

 Spanish or Lavender-leaved Sage. But that with red or blackish 

 leaves is the most common in the English gardens: and the 

 Wormwood Sage is more abundant than the Common Green- 

 leaved Sage. This pl.mt has a strong fragrant smell, and a 

 warm bitterish aromatic taste. In ancient times it was much 

 celebrated as a remedy of great efficacy, but few practitioners 

 at present consider it of much importance ; and though fre- 

 quently employed as a sudorific, it seems to have no supe- 

 riority over many other plants. Some are said to have 

 employed it successfully for the purpose of restraining inor- 

 dinate sweating. Van Swieten found it to be remarkably 

 efficacious in arresting night-sweats, when infused in wine 

 or spirit; but Quarin remarks, that a strong infusion in water 

 has been experienced to be equally successful. Van Swieten 

 also found it useful in restraining the improper continuance 

 of a flow of milk from the breasts of women, after they had 

 weaned their children. It is highly serviceable as a tonic, 

 in a debility of the stomach and nervous system ; and for this 

 purpose the Chinese highly value it, and give it the prefer- 

 ence to their own Tea. The Italians eat it as a preservative 

 of health ; and many of our people follow their example, 

 eating it with bread and butter, than which there is no better 

 way of taking it. The expressed juice, taken in small doses, 

 increases the urinary discharge, and promotes the menstrual 

 one when suppressed. The power of this plant in resisting 

 the putrefaction of animal substances, has also been adduced 

 in proof of its medicinal efficacy. From the experiments of 

 E-tlinger, it has a considerable share of antiseptic power. 

 Although this plant appears in the catalogue of the materia 

 medica of the London College, it is not directed to be used 

 in any of the preparations. It still keeps its ground in fomen- 

 tations, among the common people; and in the kitchen, for 

 sauce to luscious and strong meats. The roots will last 

 several years, if they are planted in a warm dry soil ; but 

 where they are often cropped for use, the plants will often 

 become ragged, so there should be a succession of young 

 ones raised every other year. 



8. Salvia Grandiflora; Broad-leaved Garden Sage. Leaves 

 cordate, oblong, crenate ; whorls many-flowered; calices 

 acute; stalks shorter than those of the preceding species. 

 This is generally called Balsamic Sage, and is preferred to 

 all the others for making tea. Cultivated like the preceding. 



9. Salvia Triloba; Three-lobed Sage. Tomentose: leaves 

 ovate, finely crenate, rugose, woolly beneath, auricled at the 

 base; calix with five acute teeth. The flowers are smaller 

 and of a deeper blue than those of the Common Sage. 

 Native of Crete and Syria. 



10. Salvia Pomil'era; Apple-bearing Sage. Leaves cor- 

 date, elliptic, bluut, tomentose, crenulate, waved at the edge; 

 whorls in clusters; calices trifid, blunt. The branches are 

 punctured by insects, which produce protuberances as big as 

 .small apples, in the same manner as galls upon the Oak, &c. 

 These are carried to market under the name of Sage Apples, 

 and are much esteemed when candied with sugar. This 

 plant smells like a mixture of Sage and Lavender. Found 

 by Tournefort in Candia. 



11. Salvia Urticifolia; Nettle-leaved Sage. Leaves ovate - 

 oblong, doubly-serrate ; calices three-toothed ; upper segment 

 three-toothed ; stem high, upright, and smooth. Native of 

 Virginia and Florida. 



12. Salvia Occidentalis; West Indian Sage. Leaves ovate, 

 serrate ; spikes loose ; bractes cordate, subtiiflorous. Iii 



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