Plant Name:  White Sage

Botanical Name:  Salvia apiana

Native Name:  Qas’ily

Height/Physical Description:  3 to 5 feet in height and width.  Aromatic, wooly silvery-gray leaves.  Lavender tinged white flowers that form in the Spring.

Use:  Food, medicine, cleansing and ceremony. Edible chia seeds, leaves can be used for medicinal tea and cleansing.

Harvesting:  Seeds from the dried flowers were harvested between July and September. The leaves are harvested for tea and other uses when  they have taken on a pinkish hue.

Preparation: Seeds could be ground into flour.  The leaves were dried, crushed and used for flavoring.  Fresh leaves used for many purposes such as medicinal tea to treat colds, used as a shampoo or used to eliminate body odor.

Special Note:White sage (salvia apiana) is an endangered California native plant as a result of the extensive illegal poaching of naturally occurring stands growing in the wild.  Know the source of the sage you are buying so you are not contributing to the black market of poached sage.  Safe and legal sources include organic farms and local sources where the plant has been grown and nurtured mindfully and sustainably. We also encourage people to plant white sage to provide habitat for the species that rely on it for survival.  Native plant nurseries are good sources of white sage plants.  We encourage buyers of white sage to avoid appropriation and imitation of Native cultural practices.  This plant is used by California Native people from Southern California and Northern Baja California, Mexico, for medicine and ceremony.

The sage used to make the smudge sticks sold in our stores is grown on our certified organic farm and not harvested from the wild.  The smudge sticks might also be mixed with another herb such as lavender or rosemary which are both grown on our farm.