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.
Open sheet →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.