374 
The BRITISH HERBAL. 
the head and nerves ; and for that purpofe no 
way is better than the common one, of taking it 
in tea. In this manner, drank in large quanti- 
ties, it is alfo diaphorecick; and good in feveriih 
diforders. 
The Italians eat it as a prefcrvative of health, 
and fay a man need not die that has fage in his 
garden. Our people, from the fame principle, 
cat fage on bread and butter ; and there is no bet- 
ter way of taking it. Some prefer the fage of 
virtue to the common kind \ but their qualities 
are nearly the famcj and this is the more pleafant. 
2. Sage of Virtue. 
Salvia minor. 
The root is long, thick, woody, and furnifhed 
with many fibres. 
The firft leaves are placed on (lender foot- 
ftalks ; and they are obtong, moderately broad, 
of a greyifh green colour, and rough furface ; 
and at the bafe of each there ufually and natu- 
rally grow two fmall ones, called ears ; but thefe 
are fometimes wanting. 
The ftalks are numerous, fquare, flender, 
branched, and a foot or more in height. 
The leaves on them rcfemble thofe from the 
root ; but they are fmaller. 
The flowers ftand at the tops of the ilalks in 
long, loofe fpikes ; and they are of a fine pale 
blue. 
The feeds are moderately large. 
It is a native of Spain. 
C. Bauhine calls it Salvia minor aurita et 7ion 
nurita. Others only Salvia minor. Our gar- 
deners. Sage of virtue. 
Many prefer it to the common fage for the fame 
purpofes. 
3. Candy-Sage. 
Salvia angiijiifolia Cretica. 
The root is woody, and hung with numerous 
fibres. 
The ftem is woody and round ; but the young 
branches are fquare. 
The leaves are oblong, narrow, and of a pale 
green : fometimes they are a little dented at the 
edges, at others not at all, and fomehave a double 
large indenting near the bafe, in refemblance of 
the ears of the other fage. 
The flowers fland in loofe fpikes at the tops of 
the branches ; and are of a faint whitifli purple. 
l"he cups are obcufe, and the feeds that follow 
are large. 
It is a native of the Greek iflands, and Bowers 
in July. 
C. Bauhine calls it Salvia haccifera. Others, 
Salvia pomifera. And our gardeners, Apple fage, 
or Berry-bearing fage. 
All that is natural to the plant we have here 
defcribed ; but it remains to explain the phrafe 
appk-bedring fage. 
There is a fly in the Greek iflands, whofe 
young is hatched upon this plant, in excrefcences 
raifed by the puncture of its parent. B'very one 
knows the galls produced on our oak; and few 
areignorant of theirorigtn. A fly wounds the young 
fhoot of the tree; and the part fweUs from the 
poifonous juice left by her in the wound, and 
rifes into this round fubflance, called a gall. So 
in Crete a fly wounds the fage^ a gall is formed, 
and from its lliape it is called an apple. They 
err who fuppofe it the fruit of the plant, for it has 
no fruit but the four feeds in each cup. 
^ 4. ^Ethiopian Sage. 
Salvia lanugincfa Mthiopica. 
The root is long, thick, and hung about with 
iibres. 
The firfl leaves are large, and nearly as broad 
as they are long, of a whitifli colour and fo co- 
vered with a woolly matter, that they lofe the ' 
outline of their fliape. 
The ftalk is fquare, upright, and branched : 
it is thick fet with leaves, and is covered with the 
fame white woolly matter. 
The leaves on the ftalk rcfemble thofe from the 
root, and are as thickly covered with the woolly 
matter. 
The flowers rife from the bofoms of the upper 
leaves; and are of a fnowy whitenefs ; but the 
buttons on the tops of their threads are yellow. 
The feeds arc four after every flower ; and they 
lie naked in the cup. 
It is a native of Greece, Africa, and fome of 
the hotteft parts of Europe. 
C. Bauhine calls it Mthiopis foliis ftnu ojis. 
Others, Sclarea yElhiopica ; and fome, ^'Ethiopian 
mullein. 
It is diftlndly and properly a fpecies of fage. 
The leaves are fometimes altogether undivided, 
fometimes cut in at the edges, and this in a 
flighter or deeper manner ; and from hence au- 
thors have named one or two imaginary fpecies. 
They are only accidental varieties of the fame 
plant. 
GENUS XIX. 
LAVENDER. 
LAVENDULA. 
THE flower is labiated, and is formed of a fingic petal. The tubular part is cylindrick, and 
longer than the cup. The upper lip is larger than the under, and is fplit into two parts : the 
under lip is divided into three rounded fegmems of equal fize. The cup is fhort : it is formed of 
a fingle piece ; and is obfcurely dented at the edge. The feeds are of an oval fliape, and four follow 
every flowerj and the flowers ftand in naked fingle fpikes. 
LinnEus places this among the didynamia gymnofpcnma ; the threads in the flower being two longer 
I and 
