SALVIA SCLAREA

FAMILY: LAMIACEAE

“Some brewers of ale and beere doe put it into their drinke to make it more heady, fit to please drunkards, who thereby, according to their several dispositions, become either dead drunke, or foolish drunke, or madde drunke.”
— Lobel

CLARY SAGE, MUSCATEL SAGE: A biennial in harsher climes, and a perennial here at the nursery. Large (to 10″) basal leaves with 3-4′ tall stalks of white/blue fragrant flowers with rose and white floral leaves. Very ornamental. The mucilaginous seeds are used to clear the eyes, the leaves are used to flavor wine (Clary wine was considered an aphrodisiac by Dioscorides). Antispasmodic, stimulant, emmenagogue.