520 sturtevant's notes on edible plants 



are much eaten, and Royle ' says the seeds, having an aromatic pungency, are substituted 

 for mustard. 



Salvia columbariae Benth. Labiatae. chia. 



Southern and central California. The seeds are collected, roasted, ground by the 

 Indians and used as a food by mixing with water and enough sugar to sviit the taste. This 

 mixture soon develops into a copious, mucilaginous mass several times the original bulk. 

 The taste for it is soon acqviired, and it is then foimd very palatable and nutritious.' 



S. honnintun Linn, hormium clary. 



South Exu-ope; introduced into Britain in 1596. The leaves are used as a sage.' 

 Gerarde ^ says of it, that the leaves are good to be put into pottage or broths among other 

 potherbs. It is included in Thorbum's ' seed catalog of 1881. 



S. indica Linn. ^ 



East Indies. This species, according to Ainslie,' is much cultivated in India for its 

 leaves, which are put into country beer because of their fresh and pleasant smell, 



S. lanata Roxb. 



Himalayan region. The stems are peeled and eaten." 



S. officinalis Linn. sage. 



Mediterranean region. This plant is one of the most important occupants of the 

 herb garden, being commonly used for seasoning and also in domestic medicine. It has 

 been under cultivation from a remote period and is considered to be the elelisphakos of 

 Theophrastus, the elelisphakon of Dioscorides, the salvia of Pliny. Its medicinal virtues 

 are noted by Oribasius and others of the early writers on medicine. In the Middle Ages, 

 sage found frequent mention, as by Albertus Magnus in the thirteenth century, and the 

 plant and its uses are noticed in nearly all of the early botanies. Although but one variety 

 is now grown in our gardens, yet formerly a ntmiber of sorts were noted, the red, green, 

 small and variegated being named by Worlidge ^ in 1683. Sage was in American gardens 

 in 1806 ' and doubtless long before. Six varieties are described by Burr,!" 1863, all of 

 which can perhaps be included among the ionr mentioned in 1683 and aU by Mawe in 

 1778. 



The French make an excellent pickle of the young leaves. The Chinese value the leaves 

 for making a tea, and at one time the Dutch carried on a profitable trade in exchanging 

 sage for tea, pound for povmd. In Zante, the apples or timiors on the sage, the effect 



' Royle, J. F. Illustr. Bot. Himal. 1:319. 1839. 



2 Rothrock, J. T. Bot. U. S. Geog. Sun. 6:48. 1878. 



' Mcintosh, C. Book Card. 2:235. 1855. 



* Gerarde, J. Herb. 2nd. Ed. 773. 1633 or 1636. 



'Thorbum Cat. 1881. 



"Ainslie, W. Mat. Ind. 1:260. 1826. 



' Pickering, C. Chron. Hist. Pis. 736. 1879. 



WorUdge, J. Syst. Hort. 218. 1683. 



McMahon, B. Amer. Card. Col. 583. 1806. 



"Burr, F. Field, Card. Veg. 438. 1863. 



