SAGE-TEA. VERNAL GRASS. 29 



shrub, and grows wild on the shores of the Medi- 

 terranean sea. It was formerly so abundant in 

 Languedoc, about the sixteenth century, that the 

 inhabitants burnt scarcely any other fuel. 



There are more than sixty different species of 

 Sage, many of which are natives of Europe; but 

 two only have been found wild in England, 

 Meadow- Sage, Sal'via praten'sis, and wild English 

 Clary, Sal'via verben'ica. An infusion of sage 

 leaves is sometimes used as tea : and the Chinese 

 were surprised that Europeans should come to 

 them for tea, when we have sage, which they think 

 far better. The Dutch formerly were in the habit 

 of collecting large quantities of sage leaves, in 

 Holland and the south of France, which they 

 dried like tea, and packed in cases for exportation 

 to China where they received, in exchange for 

 every pound of sage, four pounds of tea. 



But I am afraid that if I tell you any more at 

 present you will be tired ; so we shall leave the 

 third class, Triandria, until to-morrow. 



