Salvia elegans

What to Eat

Edible parts: Leaves, Herb, Flowers

The leaves have a pleasant pineapple scent and can be used fresh or dried as a flavouring. They are added to cold drinks and fruit salads, placed fresh under sponge cake mixtures to impart a subtle scent, and added fresh or dried to savoury dishes to give a sausage-like flavour. The flowers are also edible.

Where to Find It

It is a warm temperate to subtropical plant. It grows naturally in mountainous places in Mexico. There it grows between 1800-2700 m altitude. It needs well drained soil. It suits hardiness zones 8-11. In Hobart Botanical gardens. Melbourne Botanical Gardens.

Australia, Canada, Central America, Guatemala, Japan, Mexico, North America, Tasmania,

How to Identify

A shrubby plant. It keeps growing from year to year. It is grown as an annual in cooler places. It grows 120 cm high. The leaves are oval and bright green. They are pointed and have teeth along the edge. The leaves have a pineapple scent. The leaves are hairy and 7.5 cm long by 5 cm wide. The flowers are red. Six to 8 flowers occur on 20 cm long spikes.

How to Grow

Requires a very well-drained light sandy soil in a warm sunny position. Prefers a rich soil. Plants can be killed by excessive winter wet. This species is not hardy in the colder areas of the country, it tolerates temperatures down to between -5 and -10°c. The top growth will be cut back to the ground in cold winters but, if the roots are given a good mulch in the autumn, plants will often survive the winter outdoors and resprout freely from the base in the spring. There are some named varieties. 'Scarlet Pineapple' has leaves with a pineapple-like scent. The flowers are very attractive to bees, providing a good source of nectar. Members of this genus are rarely if ever troubled by browsing deer. Sage leaves can be harvested throughout the growing season, with the best flavor typically from spring to early summer, just before flowering. Sage usually flowers in late spring to early summer, generally between May and June (Northern Hemisphere), depending on the specific species and growing conditions. Sage is a moderately fast-growing herb, often reaching maturity in about 1 to 2 years under optimal conditions.

Propagation: Sow seed in March or April in a greenhouse; germination typically occurs within 2 weeks. Prick out seedlings into individual pots when large enough to handle and plant out in early summer. Where the plant is near the edge of its hardiness range, overwinter young plants under glass and plant out in late spring of the following year. Cuttings of half-ripe wood can be taken at almost any point during the growing season.

Medicinal Uses

Pineapple sage tea has been used to calm nerves and aid digestion.

Other Uses

Grown as an ornamental and used in borders, containers, massed plantings, and seaside gardens. The plant attracts hummingbirds and butterflies and is tolerant of deer. Dried leaves can be added to potpourris.

Salvia elegans is a perennial shrub native to Mexico. It has a number of variants, including pineapple sage and tangerine sage.

Notes

There are about 900 Salvia species.

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