Sage
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Sage is the common name for any of the species of plants belonging to the taxonomic genus salvia. is a plant that is native in Mexico and Southeast Asia. The salvia plant is an annual plant that grows anywhere from about one to three feet tall. It has white flowers that come in a bundle of six and are surrounded by a small purple calyx. The leaves from the plant are hairless and completely smooth which give it a brittle complexion. They also have a small yellow color on the underside of the leaves. The stems are square and hollow which end up causing them to break much easier. Their fruit come in small nuts that bloom rarely for a short time each year. The main use of salvia is as a drug that is used as a hallucinogen drug and is still legal in many states.
Body Design
Salvia is an annual plant that comes back every year. The stems are typically angled, but the leaves are usually completely entire and toothed. The flowering stems hold small bracts. Salvia has large green leaves, with a yellow outline that reach four to twelve inches long. The leaves are hairless on both sides, and have either a small petiole or no petiole at all. The plant can grow to over three feet in height on hollow square stems which tend to break very easily, with the plant rooting quite readily at the nodes. The leaves are attached in small bundles to the stem where they meet the flowers.
The flowers, which barely ever bloom, grow in bundles of about twelve inch inflorescence, which have about six flowers to each bundle. The one point two inch flowers are white and covered with hairs, and are held inside of a small calyx flower that is covered in hairs. The calyx is tubular shaped and divided into two lips. The fruits are smooth and oblong nutlets which bloom rarely depending on the season. If this flower does happen to bloom in its native habitat it blooms anywhere from September to May. The flowers rise in a upward spiral of about six inches in small intervals.[3]
Life Cycle
Salvia is a angiosperm that produces few to no seeds even though it is a flowering plant. The reason that it produces two seeds is because of the lack of pollen tube. Although the plant would normally be pollinated by insects or birds, the plant is mostly just pollinated by clippings that fall off of the plant. The reason for this is because of the inbreeding or the hybrid of the plant. The way that the plant is grown is from when the clippings start to form they take root in the ground and form a new plant. On rare occasions it reproduces due to normal ways.[4]
Salvias reproductive structures come in the form of a flower just an any other angiosperm. Ovules that are embedded inside of the female sporophylls are then pollinated and then the gametophyte is still further reduced. Double fertilization is used to produce a diploid triploid endosperm material. The seeds that are produced are contained inside of fruit protecting the seed. [5]
Ecology
Salvia is found mostly in Mexico and in Southeast Asia, but it can be found anywhere from Europe to the United States. It is mostly described at a medium sized shrub, but don't confuse Salvia with the herb Sage, a common cooking ingredient. Salvia is used as a hallucinogen drug and is not an illegal drug but is banned in many states because of its negative effect on the body. Salvia is found in many damp areas such as creeks on trails and grows off its own dead branches. The first reported sighting was in Huautla de Jimenez in a extremely damp ravine near a coffee farm. [6]
Salvia has largish green leaves , with a yellow underbelly that can reach from 2-4 inches long. The leaves are completely smooth on both sides and have no stock on the underside. The plant can grow anywhere from 1 to 3 feet in height , with fragile stems that break very easily. The flowers on the leaves ,which bloom in a bundle of 6, bloom very rarely and are about 30 centimeters in total length, with about 6 flowers on each. The individual flowers are about 3 centimeters long and are white with hairs all over them. They are also in a purple case that is also covered in hairs. On the rare occasion that it does bloom it bloom from May to September. [7]
Use of the Drug
Salvia, a legal hallucinogen drug, has been used for hundreds of years. As of old the shamans would use the drug and would eat the fresh leaves to achieve their "high". As of more modern ways of using the drug has been anything from absorbing the drug using a concentrate of the drug or using the leaves to make a sort of tea which can also be used effectively. The duration of the effects of the drug can vary depending on the amount of the drug consumed. In extremely rare cases you could overdose on this drug, but only if and extreme amount was used because of the small effect it has. [8]
The most common use of Salvia is to be smoked through a pipe, but the most preferable way for it to be used is through a water cooled pipe. Because of the small effect that is given by using a flame. People mostly use a extract of the drug to receive more of an effect from the drug. There are also different types of sage which have been genetically modified to have different effects. The examples of these would be red, yellow, or blue Salvia. Even though that it is said to be a generally safe drug to use, drugs should never be used at all because of the effect of the body and the mind.
References
- ↑ [1] USDA. Web. 2 June 2013 (Date-of-access).
- ↑ [2] USDA. Web. 2 June 2013 (Date-of-access).
- ↑ "Salvia FAQ.Web. May 19, 2013 (Date-Accessed).
- ↑ "The Vaults of Erowid".Web. June 1, 2013 (Date-Accessed).
- ↑ [3]. Angiosperm reproduction. Web. May 27, 2013 (Date-Accessed).
- ↑ "Wikipedia/Salvia.Web. May 19, 2013 (Date-Accessed).
- ↑ "Sage Wisdom.Web. May 19, 2013 (Date-Accessed).
- ↑ "Salvia Divinorum". Web. May 19, 2013 (Date-Accessed).
