Salvia chiapensis
Fernald
(c) Neptalí Ramírez Marcial, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Neptalí Ramírez Marcial
(c) Louisa Billeter, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA)
(c) Eric Hunt, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-ND)
What to Eat
Edible parts: Seeds - drink
The seeds are used to make a drink.
Where to Find It
It is a tropical plant.
Central America, Mexico,
How to Identify
A tropical herb of the mint family (Lamiaceae) native to Chiapas.
Wikipedia
Source ↗Salvia chiapensis (Chiapas sage) is a herbaceous perennial native to the province of Chiapas, Mexico, growing between 7000 and 9500 feet elevation in cloud forests. It was introduced to horticulture in the 1980s, probably as a result of a collecting trip by the University of California Botanical Garden, Berkeley. Chiapas sage grows about 1.5–2 feet (0.46–0.61 m) tall and wide, with several stems growing out of the rootstock. The 3-inch-long (76 mm) and 1.5-inch-wide (38 mm) elliptic-shaped leaves are ivy-green, glossy, and deeply veined, growing widely spaced along the stem. The flowers are bright fuchsia, with 3–6 flowers growing in whorls, widely spaced along the inflorescence. The flower is 0.75 inches (19 mm) long and covered in hairs, with a 0.5-inch-long (13 mm) pea-green calyx.
Names & Synonyms
Chia, Mirto
References (1)
- Kermath, B. M., et al, 2014, Food Plants in the Americas: A survey of the domesticated, cultivated and wild plants used for Human food in North, Central and South America and the Caribbean. On line draft. p 778
