It is rarely employed in cookery, but for medical purposes is considered more efficacious than any other species or variety.
Common or Red-Leaved.
Purple-top. Red-top. Salvia officinalis.
This is the Common Sage of the garden; and with the Green-leaved, which is but a sub-variety, the most esteemed for culinary purposes. The young stalks, the leaf-stems, and the ribs and nerves of the leaves, are purple: the young leaves are also sometimes tinged with the same color, but generally change by age to clear green.
The Red-leaved is generally regarded as possessing a higher flavor than the Green-leaved, and is preferred for cultivation; though the difference, if any really exists, is quite unimportant. The productiveness of the varieties is nearly the same. The leaves of the Green Sage are larger than those of the Red; but the latter produces them in greater numbers.
Green-Leaved.
Green-top.
A variety of the preceding; the young shoots, the leaf-stalks, and the ribs and nerves of the leaves, being green.
There appears to be little permanency in the characters by which the varieties are distinguished. Both possess like properties, and are equally worthy of cultivation. From seeds of either of the sorts, plants answering to the description of the Red-leaved and Green-leaved would probably be produced, with almost every intermediate shade of color.
Narrow-leaved Green Sage. Mill.