Purple Sage (Salvia carnosa)
At a glance
- Lifecycle
- Perennial (hardy)
- Exposure
- Full sun
- Frost limit
- −17.8 °C
Cultivation
Requires a very well-drained light sandy soil in a sunny position. Plants can be killed by excessive winter wet. Members of this genus are rarely if ever troubled by browsing deer.
Propagation
Seed - sow March/April in a greenhouse. Germination usually takes place within 2 weeks. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots when they are large enough to handle and plant them out in early summer. In areas where the plant is towards the limits of its hardiness, it is best to grow the plants on in a greenhouse for their first winter and plant them out in late spring of the following year. Cuttings of half-ripe wood succeed at almost any time in the growing season.
Edible uses
Seed - cooked. Ground into a powder and used to thicken soups etc or added to cereal flours when making bread etc.
Medicinal uses
A decoction of the seeds and stems is used to treat colds. A decoction or infusion of the leaves has been used in the treatment of fevers, coughs, colds and stomach aches. A decoction of the flowering stems has been used as a poultice and a wash to treat swollen leg veins. The plant is much valued as a treatment for an epileptic or faint person, either administered as a drink or prepared like tobacco and the smoke blown into the patients face.
Habitat
Dry slopes and flats, 1000 - 1500 metres in California.
Native range
South-western N. America.