Genus sage, or salvia(Salvia L.) - the largest in the Yasnotkov family (Lamiaceae) and has over 700, and according to some sources - up to 900 species. Most of the representatives of the genus contain essential oil, but only 2 types are of practical importance: clary sage, or clary salvia (Salvia sclarea) and salvia officinalis.
Salvia officinalis, or salvia officinalis (Salvia officinalis) - a perennial shrub with a powerful, branched, densely lumpy woody root. Starting from the second year of the growing season, it forms a semi-sprawling bush with many (more than 100) arcuate rising stems up to 50-70 cm high.But this is in its homeland, but in our middle lane it does not exceed 40-50 cm and gives much shoots smaller. Stems are tetrahedral, woody in the lower part, shoots are densely leafy and end in a spike-shaped inflorescence. The leaves are relatively small, 4-8 cm long, sitting oppositely on shortened petioles, ovate-oblong, wrinkled, finely grooved, grayish-greenish (but there are decorative varieties with golden and anthocyanin leaves), with strongly protruding veins, covered with many glands on top, which gives the bush has a gray-green color, by the way, very decorative. The flowers form a false whorl. The corolla is blue-violet, less often light pink or white. Fruit - in common parlance - a nut, scientifically - erem. The mass of 1000 seeds is 6-8 g.
Names: English - shop sage; French - sauge, serve; German - edler Salbei; Italian - salvia; Arabic - maryamiyah, khornak; Turkish - ada cayi, aci elma otu.
The homeland of this species is presumably the Mediterranean and the Balkans, Asia Minor, Syria, where it grows on dry mountain slopes. It does not occur in the wild on the territory of Russia. It is cultivated very widely in European countries (Dalmatia, France, Ukraine, Moldova, Russian Federation), as well as in the USA, Canada, Madagascar, and Syria.
Due to the dense foliage, the bush looks harmoniously against the background of stones and against the background of other plants. Can be used for rocky, aromatic or Mediterranean-style gardens, in a mixborder or as a curb. Due to the large number of varieties in various colors of the leaf, it fits well into compositions of any color scheme. It recovers well after cutting off aromatic medicinal raw materials and grows quickly. Decorative until late autumn.
Growing
Salvia officinalis is a relatively cold-resistant plant, but in the middle lane it often suffers and dies from frost, especially in the absence of snow cover. With the age of plants, their winter hardiness decreases. In the first winter, sage usually winters well; in the second, almost half falls. Sage suffers greatly from damping out in the Non-Black Earth Region, and from soaking in the lowlands.
Sage medicinal is undemanding to soils, grows well on dry, calcareous and stony soils, on slopes. However, it is responsive to fertilizers. Before planting, it is worth adding 1-2 buckets of compost per 1 m2. In the south, it needs, first of all, nitrogen, then phosphorus and potassium. In our zone, an excess of nitrogen significantly reduces winter hardiness. It is better to apply phosphorus and potash fertilizers before winter. Considering that the bulk of the roots is at a depth of 10-15 cm, fertilizers should be applied precisely at this depth. When preparing the soil, more ash is added on acidic soils, and lime is also added on very acidic soils.
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For the winter, the plants are spud, and in the winter they carry out snow retention. At the end of winter or in the earliest spring periods, before the start of sap flow, the plants are pruned at a height of about 5 cm from the soil surface.
After removing the old lignified ones, new young shoots are formed, on which larger leaves develop, which contributes to an increase in the yield of raw materials. Peduncle formation and seed formation also negatively affect leaf growth. They become small, turn yellow prematurely, yields and their quality are noticeably reduced.
Pests and diseases differ depending on the region of cultivation, in the Moscow region these are thrips, flea beetles, sage burrowing moth, gamma scoop, sage moth, meadow moth. However, they do not cause critical harm, so the use of insecticides is not even discussed.
The assortment of medicinal sage for cultivation as a medicinal raw material is relatively small. In particular, VILAR offers the Datsinol variety, the Regula variety is registered in Switzerland, and the Bona variety is registered in Poland. Decorative varieties and forms with different colors and textures of leaves are represented quite widely.
What and how to collect
Leaves are the raw material of medicinal sage. Leaves are harvested for medicinal raw materials 2-3 times during the growing season: the first harvest is in June, before the beginning of budding of single shoots, the last one is until mid-September. Leaves are torn off together with the apical part of young shoots. Raw materials are dried in a well-ventilated area. If dryers are used, the temperature should not exceed + 35 + 40 ° C.
Photo by the author
