View source for Common sage

{{Taxobox
| color = lightgreen
| name = Common sage
| image = Salvia officinalis0.jpg
| image_width = 240px
| image_caption = flowers
| regnum = [[Plantae]]
| divisio = [[Flowering plant|Magnoliophyta]]
| classis = [[Magnoliopsida]]
| ordo = [[Lamiales]]
| familia = [[Lamiaceae]]
| genus = ''[[Salvia]]''
| species = '''''S. officinalis'''''
| binomial = ''Salvia officinalis''
| binomial_authority = [[Carolus Linnaeus|L.]]
}}
[[Image:Salvia officinalis p1150380.jpg||thumb|Sage leaves - first variety]]
[[Image:Salvia officinalis2.JPG||thumb|Sage leaves - second variety]]

'''Common sage''' (''Salvia officinalis'') is a small [[evergreen]] [[subshrub]], with woody stems, grayish leaves, and blue to  purplish flowers native to southern [[Europe]] and the [[Mediterranean]] region. 

It is much cultivated as a [[kitchen]] and medicinal [[herb]], and is also called Garden sage, Kitchen sage, and Dalmatian sage. In southern Europe related species are sometimes cultivated for the same purpose, and may be confused with the common sage. Although this plant was the one originally called by this name ''sage'', a number of related species are now also called by it, and are described in more detail in the article on [[sage]].

The uses and benefits ascribed to it are many and varied, and are often shared with related species. Uses of common sage include:
* infusions, which are considered to have a calming effect, to soothe a [[sore throat]] and as a digestive agent{{Fact|date=August 2007}}
* preservative flavourings, for instance of [[cheese]]
* as a cooking flavouring, such as in sage and onion stuffing
* as a deodorizer preparation used from the extracts of the herb

Common sage is also grown in parts of [[Europe]], especially the [[Balkans]] for distillation of the [[essential oil]], though other species, such as ''[[Salvia triloba]]'' may also be harvested and distilled with it. 

A number of [[cultivar]]s of the plant exist. The majority of these are cultivated more often for ornament than for their herbal properties. All these are valuable as small ornamental flowering shrubs, and for low [[ground cover]], especially in sunny dry situations. They are easily raised from summer [[cuttings]]. Named cultivars include
* "Purpurascens", a purple-leafed cultivar, considered by some to be strongest of the garden sages, 
* "Tricolor", a cultivar with white, yellow and green variegated leaves, 
* "Berggarten", a cultivar with huge leaves, 
* "Icterina", a cultivar with yellow-green variegated leaves, 
* "Alba", a white-flowered cultivar, 
* "Lavandulaefolia", a small leaved cultivar.

{{cquote|''Why should a man die whilst sage grows in his garden?''|20px|20px|attributed to [[Martin Luther]]}}
{{cquote|''Why should a man die whilst sage grows in his garden, if not because nothing can stand against death?|20px|20px|attributed to [[Hildegard of Bingen]]}}
{{cquote|''Cultivate poverty like a garden herb, like sage.''|20px|20px|[[Henry David Thoreau]] in the conclusion to [[Walden]]}}