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The name Salvia derives from Latin salvia (sage), from salvus (safe, secure, healthy), an adjective related to salūs (health, well-being, prosperity or salvation), and salvēre (to feel healthy, to heal). [7]
Origins and Meaning. The name “Salvia” is derived from the Latin word “salvare,” which means “to heal” or “to save.” It refers to a genus of plants known for their medicinal properties, particularly the common sage, Salvia officinalis.
- Overview
- Physical description
- Major species
salvia, (genus Salvia), genus of about 960 species of herbaceous and woody plants of the mint family (Lamiaceae). The genus is distributed throughout Eurasia and the Americas and is especially diverse in Central America and in the Mediterranean region. Some members are important as sources of flavouring, and many are grown as garden ornamentals. Ch...
Plants in the genus Salvia are herbs, shrubs, or subshrubs and are generally perennial and aromatic. The leaves can be simple or compound and are arranged oppositely along the square stems. The flowers are usually tubular with two lips and only two stamens and are borne in terminal inflorescences. They produce nutlet fruits. Some species are attractive to hummingbirds, though most are pollinated by insects.
Britannica Quiz
Common sage (S. officinalis), a woody perennial growing 60 cm (2 feet) tall, bears aromatic leaves that are the source of the culinary herb. Rosemary (S. rosmarinus, formerly Rosmarinus officinalis) is another important culinary herb and has fragrant narrow leaves and small bluish flowers. Clary sage (S. sclarea), whose foliage is also used for flavouring, is a taller biennial herb with strong-smelling, hairy, heart-shaped leaves. Its white flowers and leaflike bracts below them are pinkish or violet-flushed. All three species are native to southern Europe.
Montane tropical America has many Salvia species, perhaps the most spectacular of which is Wagner’s salvia (S. wagneri), or chupamiel, a treelike shrub, native near the mountain lakes of Guatemala. It attains a height of more than 4 metres (13 feet) and has triangular 30-cm (12-inch) spikes of woolly scarlet corollas opening from magenta calyxes. Blue sage (S. farinacea) opens bright blue flowers after rains in the hills of southwestern North America. Possibly the best-known species is the garden annual scarlet sage (S. splendens) from Brazil, the blazing spikes of which contrast with dark green oval leaves.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Salvia officinalis was described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753. It has been grown for centuries in the Old World for its food and healing properties, and was often described in old herbals for the many miraculous properties attributed to it. [2]
The scientific name Salvia comes from the Latin word ‘salvare’ meaning to save. There are around 1,000 species in the Salvia genus which are incredibly diverse. Their flowers burst with colour and they have beautifully aromatic leaves.
The name ‘salvia’ derives from the Latin salveo, meaning ‘I heal’ or ‘I save’. The culinary herb, Salvia officinalis, was used as a healing plant by the Romans and ancient Greeks, and is part of the huge Salvia genus. Salvias look good in almost all planting schemes.
Dec 22, 2019 · The Latin salvia was corrupted to sauja and sauge (the Old French form), which eventually became the modern English sage (see Sage). In the English-speaking world, this name has been occasionally used since the 19th century.
