Effect:
anti-inflammatory, astringent
Areas of application:
Inflammation of the gums, blisters in the mouth and throat, colds, hoarseness, gastrointestinal complaints, menstrual problems, excessive sweating
Parts of the plant used:
Leaves, flowers
Collection time:
May to September
Can be found:
On dry grassland and roadsides on dry, sunny soils.
Ingredients:
Essential oil, tannins, bitter substances, flavonoids
Other:
Meadow Clary is a perennial plant and can grow between 20 and 60 cm tall. It forms a strongly woody taproot and is a semi-rosette plant. The plant has little smell. The above-ground parts of the plant are dark green. The strong, upright or ascending stem is square, grooved and hollow. It is branched at most in the area of the inflorescence and is loosely hairy, and glabrous in the lower area. The mainly basal leaves are divided into petioles and leaf blades. There are only one to three pairs of opposite petiole leaves that rapidly decrease in size and length. Their petioles can be 3 to 7 cm long. Their leaf blades are egg-shaped to oblong-lanceolate with a heart-shaped blade base, truncated or wedge-shaped upper end and irregularly notched to doubly toothed leaf margins. The blade is wrinkled with a strongly protruding network of veins on the underside, which is short-haired on both sides. In a 10 to 30 cm long, sometimes branched, pseudo-spike inflorescence, six to twelve pseudowhorls stand loosely one above the other. Four to eight short-stalked flowers stand in pseudowhorls, of which only the lowest ones stand above bracts. The flowers are zygomorphic and five-petiolate with a double perianth. The calyx is bell-shaped and is often violet on the back and more or less densely covered with protruding and sometimes glandular hairs. The corolla is usually dark blue-violet or light to medium blue. Its tube is strongly curved in a sickle shape, flattened at the sides, with a short two-lobed upper lip and a shorter lower lip with three bent round or angular lobes. There are two stamens. The flowering period is from May to August. The aconite breaks down into four single-seeded fruits (alconites).
In the kitchen, the flowers can be used as an aromatic, edible decoration for salads and dishes, or they can be extracted in vinegar and oil. It can also be processed into syrup. The leaves and young shoots can be used as a seasoning or as an accompaniment to herb butter, salads, soups, sauces, quark dishes, fish dishes and vegetable dishes. The sharp, bitter-tasting herb was used as a flavoring in beer and wine.
Meadow Clary is slightly weaker than common sage (Salvia officinalis) and therefore contains less essential oil.
Meadow Clary can be used as a shampoo for greasy and flaky, dark hair.
As an incense plant, Meadow Clary promotes concentration and has a cleansing and disinfecting effect.
Some varieties of Meadow Clary are used as ornamental plants.