Common sage

Common sage
flowers
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Lamiales
Family:	Lamiaceae
Genus:	Salvia
Species:	S. officinalis
Binomial name
Salvia officinalis L.

Common sage (Salvia officinalis) is a small evergreen subshrub, with woody stems, grayish leaves, and blue to purplish flowers that grows in 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 similar species are sometimes cultivated for the same purpose, and may be confused with the common sage.

It likes warm, quite dry soil with some shade but it will grow in almost any garden soil. It can live through winter but after three to five years the plant is past its best and should be replaced.