Buy the Books Win the books Health Scene Health Index Reference Lib. Temperate regions of Europe and North America. Used as a flavoring agent in food preparation. Also said to have the ability to strengthen nerves, quicken memory, and treat mouth and throat irritations. Most medicinal preparations that include sage contain little volatile oil.
Purified oil can cause toxic effects.
Sage should not be used as an internal medicinal treatment due to the high thujone content. Sage's use as a flavoring agent is safe, due to the heat in cooking that burns off most of the volatile thujone. A shrub or small tree with ovoid and deeply lobed leaves. Eastern North America. Despite its pleasant flavor and folkloric reputation as a useful tonic the plant material has no really significant medical or therapeutic utility.