A two-year-old herbaceous plant of the Labialaceae family with a very thick membranous and white downy undergrowth. The stem is 4-sided, thick, erect, 25-60 (100) cm high, pyramidally branched. The lower leaves in the basal rosette are numerous, large, long-petiolate, ovate or elliptic-rhombic, at the base are lanceolate-cordate or short-wedge-shaped, at the edges are unevenly serrated, stem leaves are opposite (1-3 pairs of them), short-petiolate or sessile, with a wide stem-wrapping base, smaller; all these leaves are distinctly wrinkled, white-woolly, sometimes with sparse pubescence, greenish; bracts sessile, broadly ovate, pointed, entire, shorter than flowers. The flowers are bisexual, irregular, forming spurious 6-10-flowered spreading rings, collected in a tassel; calyx tubular-bell-shaped, felty on the outside, with triangular, pointed particles; corolla is white, double-lipped (the upper lip is slightly bent, with hairs on the back, the lower one – with a spongy middle lobe and oblong side lobes). The fruit consists of four one-seeded nut-shaped lobes. Blooms from May to July.
Distribution . Ethiopian sage grows in the Crimea, in the steppe and in the southern part of the forest-steppe on steppe and stony slopes, as a weed in the fields and along the roads.
Procurement and storage . Sage grass (Herba Salviae aethiopis) is used to make medicine, which is harvested during the flowering period of the plant by cutting off the tops of stems and branches up to 40 cm long. The collected raw materials are dried under shelter in the open air or in a room with good ventilation, spreading a thin cm) in a layer on fabric or paper. The finished raw materials are packed in bags and stored on racks in a dry, ventilated room, and at home in well-closed cans or cans. The shelf life is 3 years.
The chemical composition needs further study. It is known that there is a significant amount of essential oil in the aerial part of the plant.
Pharmacological properties and use . The grass of Ethiopian sage is used as a raw material, which is part of the mixture for preparing the mixture according to Zdrenko’s prescription. The herbal tincture proved to be an effective remedy against increased sweating in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis. The use of tincture was especially effective in patients with subcompensated forms of tuberculosis; with decompensated forms, the effect was unstable. The tincture does not work on healthy people with profuse sweating during the summer heat. In folk medicine, an infusion of the Ethiopian sage herb is used for hemoptysis. Fresh crushed leaves of the plant are applied to cuts, purulent wounds and boils.
Medicinal forms and applications .
Internally – tincture (prepared with 70% alcohol in a ratio of 1:10) 20 drops per reception 3 times a day for 3 days with a break of 6 days;
infusion (1 tablespoon of raw material per 400 ml of boiling water, infuse for 1 hour, strain) half a glass 3 times a day.