Wild clary
Salvia verbenaca
Family · Lamiaceae · Harmless
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The wild sage of verges and trodden ground, with a wrinkled rosette flat to the earth and blue spikes that often barely open. It is among the first plants to flower in February.
Roadsides and waste ground · Fields and pasture · Town and roadside · Walls and rocks
Also known asvervain sage, wild sage
How to tell it
A basal rosette of deeply wrinkled, lobed leaves, rough as sandpaper, pressed to the ground. An upright stem with whorls of small violet-blue flowers, the upper lip sickle-shaped. A four-angled stem.
What it is confused with
Spanish sage
Salvia lavandulifolia
Spanish sage is a grey, strongly aromatic shrub of limestone scrub; this is a verge herb, green and nearly scentless, with a ground-hugging rosette.
What it is for
The seeds, put in water, form a gel that was used to remove foreign bodies from eyes, hence the common names linked to sight. Historical use, not a recommendation.
With documented traditional uses. Not a therapeutic indication and not a dose.
Where it occurs
Each square is an area with recorded observations of this plant. The lighter background is the set of areas where any of the entries has been observed, and serves as a reference. Note what this is not: it is not where the plant lives, it is where people record it, so trails and towns always look fuller than the mountains. Data from GBIF.
Sources
Community
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