Family: Labiatae
Genus: Salvia
Species: sclarea
(i) General background on the plant
Clary sage is a stout biennial or perennial herb up to 1 m in height, with an erect, little branched stem and large, hairy leaves concentrated towards the base, partly forming a rosette. Leaves are large, opposite, almost stalkless, broadly ovate and irregularly shallow lobed or toothed, with a wrinkled surface like sage. Flowers are white, violet or pink with two lips, the upper being narrow, strongly arched and with a protruding style, the lower is in two lobes subtended by a very large sharply pointed bract.
It is native to southern Europe and the Middle East and is cultivated worldwide, especially in the Mediterranean region, Russia, USA, Britain, Morocco and central Europe for its essential oil. The French, Moroccan and English clary sage are considered of superior quality for perfumery work.
(ii) Details of quality characters
The aerial parts and seeds are collected for the essential oil. The essential oil of clary sage is extracted by steam distillation from the flowering tops and leaves. A concentrate and absolute are also produced by solvent extraction (Lawless, 1995).
% Quantities |
|||
Alps-Maritime |
Russian |
S. Carolina |
|
| Linalool Linalyl Acetate Alpha Terpineol Germacrene D Geranyl Acetate |
12.4 67.8 0.3 3.3 0.4 |
16.5 49.6 2.5 0.4 1.1 |
24.2 52.2 3.1 3.5 3.2 |
(Aqua Oleum 1993)
The constituents listed above are the most important ones, but there are many others which appear in small or trace amounts.
(iii) Current production and yields
After planting in France, clary sage requires two summers before it reaches its full potential of 5,000 kg of plant material per hectare. A planting will last between three and five years. Harvesting takes place during July or August. In France, a second harvest of lower quality oil can be taken in exceptionally good weather.
Clary Sage should be distilled fresh; otherwise a considerable amount of volatile oil is lost by evaporation. The yield of oil is subject to wide fluctuations. It depends on climatic and weather conditions, the location and soil type. In Southern France Guenther (1949) obtained 0.15% of oil which came from plants of poor ground and high altitudes, but only 0.07% from plants grown on fertile soil in low altitudes.
In France, it takes approximately 800 kg of the aerial plant material to distil 1 kg of essential oil (Aqua Oleum, 1993).
(iv) Constraints on production
(v) Markets and Market potential
Clary sage is generally used in preference to garden sage in aromatherapy due to its lower toxicity level. The oil and absolute are used as fragrance components and fixatives in soaps, detergents, cosmetics and perfumes. The oil is used extensively by the food and drink industry.
It is antispasmodic and aromatic and is used medicinally to treat digestive problems such as indigestion. It is also a tonic and calming herb with oestrogen-stimulating action.
The estimated world production of clary sage oil is £3,600,000 (Varlet, 1993).
(vi) Other Information
Clary Sage prefers sunny conditions and dry soil, it is gathered in summer usually in its second year.
See the following pages in the NF-2000 Database
(vii) Contacts
(viii) References
Guenther, E (1949). The Essential oils. R.E. Krieger Publishing Company, Inc. Florida. USA
Lawless, J (1995) Essential Oils. Element Books. Dorset.