''Salvia sclarea'', the clary or clary sage (clary deriving from

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman Conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English pe ...

''clarie'', from Anglo-Norman ''sclaree'', from Late or

Medieval Latin Medieval Latin was the form of Literary Latin used in Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Western Europe during the Middle Ages. It was also the administrative language in the former Western Roman Empire, Roman Provinces of Mauretania, Numidi ...

'' sclarēia'' meaning ''clear''), is a biennial (short-lived) herbaceous

perennial In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...

in the genus ''

Salvia ''Salvia'' () is the largest genus of plants in the sage family Lamiaceae, with just under 1,000 species of shrubs, Herbaceous plant, herbaceous Perennial plant, perennials, and Annual plant, annuals. Within the Lamiaceae, ''Salvia'' is part o ...

''. It is native to the northern Mediterranean Basin and to some areas in north Africa and

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

. The plant has long been cultivated as an herb and is currently grown for its

essential oil An essential oil is a concentrated hydrophobic liquid containing volatile (easily evaporated at normal temperatures) chemical compounds from plants. Essential oils are also known as volatile oils, ethereal oils, aetheroleum, or simply as the ...

Description

''Salvia sclarea'' reaches in height, with thick, square stems covered in hairs. The leaves are approximately long at the base, and long higher up on the plant. The upper leaf surface is rugose, and covered with glandular hairs. The flowers are in verticils, with between two and six flowers in each verticil, and are held in large colorful bracts that range in color from pale mauve to lilac or white-to-pink with a pink mark on the edge. The lilac or pale-blue corolla is approximately , with the lips held wide open. The cultivar ''S. sclarea'' 'Turkestanica' bears pink stems, petiolate leaves, and white, pink-flecked blossoms on spikes that grow up to tall.

History

The plant’s medicinal uses are described as far back as the 4th century BCE, in the writings of

Theophrastus Theophrastus (; ; c. 371 – c. 287 BC) was an ancient Greek Philosophy, philosopher and Natural history, naturalist. A native of Eresos in Lesbos, he was Aristotle's close colleague and successor as head of the Lyceum (classical), Lyceum, the ...

, as well as in the 1st century CE writings of

Dioscorides Pedanius Dioscorides (, ; 40–90 AD), "the father of pharmacognosy", was a Greek physician, pharmacologist, botanist, and author of (in the original , , both meaning "On Materia medica, Medical Material") , a 5-volume Greek encyclopedic phar ...

and

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/24 79), known in English as Pliny the Elder ( ), was a Roman Empire, Roman author, Natural history, naturalist, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the Roman emperor, emperor Vesp ...

). Clary seeds have a

mucilaginous Mucilage is a thick gluey substance produced by nearly all plants and some microorganisms. These microorganisms include protists which use it for their locomotion, with the direction of their movement always opposite to that of the secretion of ...

coat, which is why some centuries-old herbal guides recommend placing a seed into the eye of someone with a foreign object in it so that it could adhere to the object and make it easy to remove. This practice is noted by

Nicholas Culpeper Nicholas Culpeper (18 October 1616 – 10 January 1654) was an English botanist, herbalist, physician and astrologer.Patrick Curry: "Culpeper, Nicholas (1616–1654)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford, UK: OUP, 2004) His boo ...

in his ''Complete Herbal'' (1653), who referred to the plant as "clear-eye". It has also long been used as an additive to

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented fruit. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made f ...

and

beer Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches from cereal grain—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. The grain is mashed to convert starch in the ...

. In 16th-century Germany

elderflower ''Sambucus'' is a genus of between 20 and 30 species of flowering plants in the family Adoxaceae. The various species are commonly referred to as elder, with the flowers as elderflower, and the fruit as elderberry. Description Elders are mostl ...

-infused clary was added to Rhine wines to make a more potent beverage known as Muscatel.

Uses

The distilled essential oil of ''Salvia sclarea'' is used widely in

perfume Perfume (, ) is a mixture of fragrance, fragrant essential oils or aroma compounds (fragrances), Fixative (perfumery), fixatives and solvents, usually in liquid form, used to give the human body, animals, food, objects, and living-spaces an agre ...

s and as a muscatel-like flavoring for

vermouth Vermouth (, ) is an Italian aromatized wine, aromatized, fortified wine, flavored with various Botany, botanicals (roots, Bark (botany), barks, flowers, seeds, Herb, herbs, and Spice, spices) and sometimes Food coloring, colored. The modern ve ...

s, wines, and

liqueur A liqueur ( , ; ) is an alcoholic drink composed of Liquor, spirits (often rectified spirit) and additional flavorings such as sugar, fruits, herbs, and spices. Often served with or after dessert, they are typically heavily sweetened and un-age ...

s. It is also used in aromatherapy. In the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, this oil is mostly produced on a large scale in and around

Bertie County Bertie County ( )Talk Like a Tarheel
, from the North Carolina Col ...

in northeastern

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

. The chemical

sclareol Sclareol is a fragrant chemical compound found in '' Salvia sclarea'', from which it derives its name. It is classified as a bicyclic diterpene alcohol. It is an amber colored solid with a sweet, balsamic scent. In an experiment in which scla ...

contained in clary sage oil has a low molecular weight and is absorbed transdermally. In an experiment in which sclareol was dissolved in jojoba oil and applied to mice, (1) it was detected in the blood 30 minutes after application and (2) higher concentrations of sclareol were detected in the liver but did not cause liver dysfunction.

Gallery

File:ClarySageEssOil.png, ''Salvia sclarea'' essential oil File:Lamiaceae - Salvia sclarea. Agata Fossili127.JPG, Plants of ''Salvia sclarea'' File:Salvia sclarea02.jpg, Plant of ''Salvia sclarea'' File:Salvia sclarea1.jpg, Clusters of clary flowers File:Lamiaceae - Salvia sclarea.JPG, Close-up File:Lamiaceae - Salvia sclarea-2.JPG, Close-up File:Lamiaceae - Salvia sclarea-1.JPG File:Lamiaceae - Salvia sclarea. Agata Fossili197-1.JPG, Leaves

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q157872 sclarea Herbs Medicinal plants Essential oils Flora of Lebanon Flora of Western Asia Flora of North Africa Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus