Description
Clary Sage (Salvea sclarea) is a perennial plant with squared hairy stems and long hairy leaves. It comes from the mint family (Lamiaceae) and is famous for its heavy essential oil that imparts a floral scent with herbaceous notes and everything that speaks of the earth. It is a seed-grown plant, available in a 3.5” pot.
It is a USDA hardy from growing zones 5-9 and is commonly known as clary, clary wort, and eyebright.
About Clary Sage
Clary Sage is an herbaceous perennial that hails from the mint family Lamiaceae. Its fruity, floral scent has garnered the attention of both aromatherapists and flower essence makers.
Its soothing scent is beneficial for menopausal symptoms and other menstrual irregularities due to its remarkable estrogenic properties. Its antibacterial property proves to be quite fruitful in dealing with skin infections that emerge due to Staph. aureus. Its notorious fragrance is loved by the perfume industries where they perform steam distillation of clary sage flower tops to extract its scent-filled components.
How to use Clary Sage
Clary sage can be used to formulate:
Tincture: Chop freshly harvested clary sage leaves and macerate in alcohol for 4 to 6 weeks. Then strain away the plant material to obtain a highly concentrated tincture.
Tea: Dry the clary sage leaves in the dehydrator and steep them in hot boiling water for 10 to 15 minutes to make a steaming cup of calming tea.
Decoction: Save the seeds of clary sage and decoct them in water to form a mucilaginous decoction.
Salve: Clary sage essential oil is paired with peppermint essential oil and stirred in beeswax to form a salve.
Syrup: Dry the clary sage flowers and leaves in a dehydrator and simmer them in a sugar solution to make a syrup.
Infused oil: Clary sage leaves and olive oil are paired together and allowed to sit in a dark place for 3 weeks with intermittent shaking to create clary sage-infused oil.