ABSTRACT
Europeans had a history of using Salvia as medicine dating to the classical Greeks and Romans, and probably earlier. Pliny (A.D. 23-79, Dioscorides (A.D. 40-80), Aëtius (A.D. 527-565), and Paul of Aegina (A.D. 625-690) discussed what we now know as Salvia fruticosa, S. officinalis, S. pratensis, and S. sclarea (Meyer et al. 1999). Fuchs in 1542 (Meyer et al. 1999) and later herbalists also commented on those European species. The very name “Salvia” reflects their importance (de Cleene and Lejeune 2002).
