110 ' SALVIA OFFICINALIS. 
a handful of the recent plant, or of two or three ounces of the dried, 
in doses of three or four ounces, will generally act as a gentle ape- 
rient, unattended with any griping ; or one drachm of the dried 
plant in powder, will usually produce the same effect. But the use 
of this plant, like many more of indigenous growth, is now neglected, 
being seldom employed but as a domestic remedy; and the present 
rage for the new chemical preparations, will probably expunge from 
our pharmacopoeias many more of our valuable native plants. 
Off. The Herb. 
^ — 
SALVIA OFFICINALIS. 
Garden Sage.* 
Class Di ANDRi A. — Orrfer MoNOGYNlA. 
Nat, Ord. VERTiciLLAT-a:, Linn. Labiate, Juss. 
Gen. Char. Corolla unequal. Filaments affixed transversely 
by the middle. 
Spec. Char. Leaves ovate, lanced, intire, finely crenated. 
Flowers spiked. Segments of Calyx acute. 
The genus Salvia comprises upwards of eighty species,t natives of 
every quarter of the globe, and of every climate. The Salvia Offici- 
nalis is a perennial plant, indigenous to the south of Europe, and was 
first cultivated in this country by Gerarde, previous to the year 1597: 
it has now a place in most of our kitchen gardens. There are several 
varieties of this species of sage, viz. the greater or common sage, 
the small or narrow leaved, (commonly called sage of virtue,) and 
another with variegated leaves ; these appear to have been accidental 
varieties, produced from seed, or some other circumstance in their 
culture. 
The root is long and fibrous ; the stem rises to about two feet 
in height, firm, square, and branched ; the leaves are of an oblong. 
* Fig. a. represents a spike of flowers of (he natural size. b. A cutting (in outline) 
with the young branches, c. The pistil, d. The stamens, e. The calj'x, 
+ Port. Cant. ^ 
