What's in the Name?

I got some seeds and on the envelope it said:

Salvia sp.  

Salvia officinalis = Sage with herbal uses growing in my potager

What does sp. stand for? I found this very useful article by Susan Mahr about Botanical and Latin names. I learned that:

Unspecified or unknown specie in the genus of for instance Salvia would be written as Salvia sp. To signify more than one species in the genus, it is written Salvia spp. Another thing.. once the genus has been used in a paragraph, or is understood, it can be shortened, such as S. splendens. and S. officinalis, good to know

What's In A Name?

Understanding Botanical or Latin Names

By Susan Mahr, University of Wisconsin – Madison

“All living organisms are classified into various groups with different degrees of relatedness. In the plant kingdom, the various levels of classification include class, order, family, genus and species. The genus and species names together comprise the scientific name that every plant (and animal, too) is given when first described by a scientist. These species names are recognized by botanists, horticulturists and gardeners no matter where you go in the world.”

What the Latin name means

acaulis                 stemless

alba                     white

angustifolia         narrow-leaved

annua                  annual

argentea             silvery  ag silver

arvensis              of the field

aurantiaca          orange

... find the rest here

I have planted 14 Salvias (Sage)  now for 2010 some of them are perennial and most of them are blueish purple in the colour they are:

 Salvia amplexicaulis, Salvia dolichantha, S. forskaohlei, S. glutinosa, S. hians, S. nemorosa,  S. officinalis ' Berggarten', S. przewalskii, S. staminea, S. transsylvania, S. certicillata, S. virgata, S. columbariae (Chia) and last the Salvia sp. the unknown one.

I always bought plants of Salvia before and this is the first time I sow them from seed, very exiting.


Thank you Nancy  Soliloquy  for choosing to put Tyra's Garden on you sidebar this week.

Photo: YCLS

I Bought the Crown Jewels

Chia - Crown Jewels

What little did I know?…

and when I entered the world of Chia.

I have just received a few seed packets from Baker Creek Heirlooms Seeds for my potager. I always want to know a little about the plant I’m going to grow, consequently I looked up my Chia - Crown Jewels and entered a new world, most fascinating. I landed in American history, health, ancient food and future ‘super’ food. Amazing, do you know... I’ve bought a miracle! Perhaps that is why they are called just Crown Jewels or it could be because the flower in its simplicity yet beauty look like a small crown with precious blue-purple stones in it.

Wikipedia Salvia columbariae



Chia - Crown Jewels

(Salvia columbariae ) A different Salvia species with a long history, this heirloom Salvia was grown as a staple food crop by Native Americans years ago. It has a high nutrition value. In cultivation, it needs good drainage, sun and dry weather to grow to its fullest potential. Called Chia in Mexico and other Central American countries, it is also a special ornamental plant with decorative grey-green leaves and pretty colourful light purplish blue flowers.

Chia as Health Food

Chia seeds are now a popular natural health product. William Anderson writes about it

- The Ancient Food of the Future Chia Seed. Do read this most fascinating article.

“Another unique quality if the Chia seed is its high oil content, and the richest vegetables source for the essential omega-3 fatty acid. It has approximately three to ten times the oil concentrations of most grains and one and a half to two times the protein concentrations of other grains. Read more ”

This amazing picture is from EOL Encyclopedia of Life.

The beautiful seeds of Salvia columbariae.

Interesting? Want to try it out?

Chia Seeds - The RAW Food World
Chia Seeds - My SEEDS

Here you can buy Chia seeds and a lot of other interesting food.




Anthropology – about Chia Salvia columbariae


NCBI* Writes about the Chia seeds, how it has been used as food and continues to be used as such, how you can still buy the seeds in stores. Read the interesting story about the Chumash messenger who ran 30 km or perhaps more in a day to deliver messages between the villages. Consuming Chia seeds to maintain the energy right through the run. Read more about the Chumash and Chia “ How the plant was used to ‘wake the dead’ is unknown. However, it may have been the root that was used. Probably the people who were treated with this plant had suffered from strokes or heart attacks and appeared to be nearly dead.” NCBI

Books about Chia (Salvia columbariae)

- Rediscovering a Forgotten Crop of the Aztecs

- Revival of an Ancient Wonder Food

- Chia For Health

Another book that awoke my curiosity as I browsed the net was this +300 pages book

The New Book of SALVIAS, hm...I would love to read it.

Common Sage Salvia officinalis in my potager.

That's All Folks!

It is Blooming Friday at Katarinas place

I wish you all a great weekend/ Tyra

*NCBI - National Center for Biotechnology Information

A GARDENERS WRAP

A Gardeners Gift Wrap

To wrap a present is so fun, I really do enjoy it and this time I wanted to do something different, I went for a stroll in the garden and ended up with this. I just adores the seed capsules of the Papaver, I think they are most fascinating, each one is a small work of art. They are so beautiful therefore I started out with the Papaver then...

...

POP ART

...added a fig (picked from the fridge), some lovely green Ivy, two Cynara cardunculus and then the beautiful blueish green fragant sage. I was rather satisfied with the result if I may say, you could certainly see that it was from the a gardener :-)

Att slå in paket är ju så jätteroligt tycker jag, här gick jag en runda i trädgården och plockade lite grejer, frökapslar ifrån vallmo, härligt grön murgröna, doftande salvia också ett par kardonknoppar och till sist ett fikon ifrån kylskåpet...sedan var det bara att fästa ihop dem och vips, färdigt. Ett paket som det syns lång väg att det kommer från en trädgårds toka.

Happy birthday to Lena my dear sister in law!

Have a great week all of you!

What is up in the greenhouse?

TYRA