The Salvia longiflora of Peru sometimes attains the height of twenty feet, with flowers six to eight inches long. Several kinds are found fifteen feet in height. There are said to be nearly 300 varieties of sage, among which are the following: S. splenden, with large spiked, scarlet flowers, from Mexico, which is esteemed by florists; S. coccinea, with smaller, but handsome flowers; the open-corolled S. patens, with tall, open spikes, with large blue flowers; the bracteated S. involucrata, with thick obtuse spikes of reddish-purple flowers; the Clory S. sclarea, with large, beautiful, purplish-green deciduous bracts.
MARJORAM
Marjoram (Origanum marjorum). Origanum (meaning in Greek, joy of the mountains).
Sweet marjoram, a genus of the natural order of plants labiatæ or mint family. It is chiefly a native of Greece and the countries bordering on the Mediterranean. It is an annual shrubby plant with a stem about one foot high, and has a ten-ribbed, five-toothed calyx, loose spikes, and broad bracts. It is peculiarly aromatic and fragrant, and is much used, as other mint plants are used, in common cooking. It has nearly an entire ovate, or egg-shaped, grayish or green, leaf, covered on both sides with a thin down, situated about three roundish heads of small purplish flowers crowded in cylindrical or oblong spikes, which are imbricated with colored bracts. It flowers in August. The flowers are very small and inconspicuous. Marjoram contains a yellowish essential oil (oil of marjoram or oil of origanum), which is obtained from some species by distillation. It yields fifteen ounces from one hundred and fifty pounds of the recent-cut plants. This oil will become solid by standing. It is used for toothache and for cancers. An infusion of it is a stimulant and is a good remedy for nervousness. It is mixed with olive oil to make a stimulating liniment, which is used as a remedy for rheumatic complaints and for baldness, and in case of sprains and bruises. The common marjoram, wild (O. vulgare, is found on dry hilly, bushy places.
PARSLEY
1 Ripening fruit
2 Ripening fruit, more developed
3 Flower
4 Stamen
5 Pistil
6 Seed
PARSLEY
Parsley (Carum petroselinum sativum). French, Persil (Culpepper). It is governed by Venus.
Parsley is a biennial plant, with a fleshy, spindle-shaped root and a rough, erect, smooth-branching stem. It is a native of the Eastern Mediterranean region. It is now widely cultivated in all parts of the civilized world as a culinary vegetable, and it sometimes runs wild, the root being one of the principal parts. It is a great favorite on account of its much-divided, finely cut, crisped, aromatic leaves, which are used in flavoring soups and other dishes and for garnishing. The leaves of the wild parsley are plain. Parsley has a white or greenish-yellow flower and from the seed an essential oil is obtained, named apial, which is used as a drug in place of quinine in intermittent fevers. Its leaves are often chewed to neutralize the scent of onions. Parsley wreaths were twined for the victors of the Nemean games, but now it has fallen from its high estate to flavor or to garnish some lordly dish. The seed was formerly mixed in cheese curds with fennel and thyme and other fragrant herbs. The roots were also used as a relish, as noted in the words of Wynkyn, “de worde in the Boke of Keriynge says ‘åquinces and peres Ciryppe with parcelery rate. Bight to begyn your mele.’” Parsley seeds germinate imperfectly and the disappointment of the sower was explained by the belief that the devil took his tithe thereof. Many dire evils, belief in which can scarcely now be understood, were attached to the sowing, gathering, and even dreaming of parsley seed. These beliefs may have originated in the fact that the Greeks strewed it upon newly made graves. To be in need of parsley was a colloquialism which expressed the imminence of death. Herrick said: “Dear Perenna, Prithee come and with Smallage dressmy tomb.”
