Clary sage
Salvia sclarea
In cosmetics
The plant has a lengthy history as a medicinal herb, and is currently grown for its essential oil. The distilled essential oil is used widely in perfumes.
Skin Health
More specifically, there is an ester present in Clary Sage essential oil called linalyl acetate, which reduces skin inflammation and heal rashes. Furthermore, it balances and regulates the production of natural oils in the skin, reducing both oily and dry skin and makes your skin look young and beautiful. It is recommended to be used directly, or mixed into a carrier agent like almond oil to facilitate maximum absorption and effect.
Deodorant
Buying synthetic deodorants are not only expensive, but they also negatively impact the environment. Their pleasant smell effects also only last for a short time. Moreover, sometimes they produce irritations on skin and allergies. Clary Sage oil can be a far better choice as adeodorant, because in diluted form, it serves as an efficient deodorant without any side effects. It is natural, so it doesn’t impact the environment, and its effects can last for a long time.
Improving skin tone and clearing acne and other inflammatory conditions or oily skin. In hair care blends it is used to treat dandruff and greasy hair.
As a medicine
Properties
Anti-cancer, antidepressant, antioxidant, aromatic, antidepressant, anticonvulsive, antispasmodic, antiseptic, aphrodisiac, astringent, bactericidal, carminative, deodorant, digestive, emenagogue, euphoric, hypotensive, nervine, sedative, stomachic and uterine substance.
Clary sage is used for upset stomach and other digestive disorders, as well as kidney diseases, to remove thorns and splinters from the skin, and for treating tumors.
Clary sage has a special affinity with the female system in general and is recommended for women who are experiencing hot flashes, pain and tension associated with menopause, menstrual problems and PMS. Clary sage oil’s contains sclareol which has an estrogen-like structure, contributing to clary’s effectiveness in returning balance to the female reproductive system. Clary sage oil’s antispasmodic properties relieve pain and menstrual cramping
For eyes
Clary seeds have a mucilaginous coat, which is why some old herbals recommended 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 in hisComplete Herbal (1653), who referred to the plant as “clear-eye”.
As the name suggests, Clary Sage oil was and still is primarily used as a cleanser for the eyes. It is supposed to brighten eyes, improve vision and protect loss of vision due to premature or normal aging. Some people use clary sage mucilage, an oily substance secreted by the plant, to remove foreign objects from the eye,
Contraindications
Avoid during pregnancy.
Culinary uses
“Muscatel Oil”, a common name given to Clary Sage essential oil due to its traditional use of flavoring muscatel wine and as a muscatel flavoring for vermouths, wines, and liqueurs.
Clary sage has a reputation for creating a sense of euphoriaIt also had quite a reputation as a mind altering herb. In Britain in particular it was often used for brewing ale, imparting that extra punch, which apparently made it ‘fit to please drunkards, who thereby, according to their several dispositions, become either dead drunk, or foolish drunk, or mad drunk.’ This drunken stupor was followed by a mighty hangover and headache. In Germany it was mixed with Elderflowers to adulterate wine, which thereby gained a flavour not unlike Muscatel wine. The German name ‘Muskateller Salbei’ still serves as a reminder of this dubious use.
Origin of name
Genus name comes from the Latin word salveo meaning to save or heal in reference to the purported medically curative properties attributed to some plants in the genus. Specific epithet comes from the Greek word skeria which means hardness in reference to the hard parts of the flower petals.
Common name of clary comes from the Latin word clarus meaning clear in reference to the use of the oil as an eyewash to “clear” the eyes of inflammation and foreign materials.
Other Names
Clary, Clary Wort, Clear Eye, Esalarea, Herbe aux Plaies, Muscatel Sage, Muskatellersalbei, Muskatellsalvia, Orvale, Šalfej Muskatny, Salvia Romana, Salvia sclarea, Sauge Sclarée, Sauge Musquée, Sclarée, See Bright, Toute-Bonne.
Mythologies and stories
Descriptions of medicinal use of the plant goes back to the writings of Theophrastus (4th century BCE), Dioscorides (1st century CE), andPliny the Elder (1st century CE).
Native Range
It is native to the northern Mediterranean, along with some areas in north Africa and Central Asia.
Cultivation
Suitable for: light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils and prefers well-drained soil. Suitable pH: acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It prefers dry or moist soil.
Family/genus
biennial or short-lived herbaceous perennial in the genus Salvia, Lamiaceae.
Description
S. sclarea reaches 3 to 4 ft (0.91 to 1.22 m) in height, with thick square stems that are covered in hairs. The leaves are approximately 1 ft (0.30 m) long at the base, .5 ft (0.15 m) long higher on the plant. The upper leaf surface is rugose, and covered with glandular hairs. The flowers are in verticils, with 2-6 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 1 in (2.5 cm), with the lips held wide open.
Constituents
Rosmarinic and other plant acids, 1,8-cineole, pinene, terpineol,beta-sitosterol ,camphor ,citral ,citronellol ,geraniol ,limonene, sclareol, tannin. Sclareol, Alpha Terpineol, Geraniol, Linalyl Acetate, Linalool, Caryophyllene, Neryl Acetate and Germacrene-D
