Leaves: light grey-green, long and furry
Flowers: mauve-blue flowers bloom in summer
Stems: brown with many square branched green shoots
Height: grows to 80cm
Harvest: pruned all summer and fall. Hang dry. Fresh leaves can be bruised and used as a poultice.
Danger: Avoid medicinal doses if pregnant and avoid altogether if breastfeeding. Do not take over long periods of time.

Healer use: Sage's most popular use is in combination with wintergreen and willowsalic for a headache tea. Sage leaf tea alone is an antiseptic nerve and blood tonic, and can help irregular menstruation and menopause symptoms. It also reduces sweating and sooths coughs and colds. Sage seed infused in water can be used as a painless eyewash. An infusion of the leaves combats diarrhea. The leave burned on embers or boiled in water can disinfect a sickroom. This herb also is used to inhibit breast milk flow, treat insomnia, digestive problems and stomach cramps. Crushed leaves can be used on insect bites.

Cooking use: Dried leaves are used in a variety of dishes, most popularly in poultry stuffings. Leaves burned in the hearth deodorizes animal and cooking smells.



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