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What is the difference between Salvia officinalis and Salvia sclarea?

Painting from Koehler's Medicinal Plants (1887). Salvia officinalis:

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Aleksandar M
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Well it's not difficult to work out - both are members of the Lamiaceae and the Genus Salvia, but Salvia sclarea is a short lived perennial or biennial plant, often used in perfumes or aromatherapy oils, whereas S. officinalis is a shrub or sub shrub - it may die over winter in cold, wet climates, but generally survives for years. Salvia sclarea (commonly known as Clary Sage) is also not generally used for culinary purposes, whereas S. officinalis is. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvia_sclarea

Bamboo
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As with many plants in families the details are not too evident on paper but if you plant them side by side the differences yell out. Visually clary is of a lighter colour; leaves are lighter green than sage and the flowers are a lighter shade of lilac blue. The inflorescence of clary is also larger than regular sage but there are fewer of them, mostly just one major flower cluster.

But the major difference is in the aroma. Regular sage dries to a silvery gray colour and is quite pungent when leaves are crushed. Clary sage you just have to brush up against it and you sense a powerful smell which is interesting but clearly not the kind of pungency you want in your food.

Colin Beckingham
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