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Common Name: Thistle Sage

General Information

Salvia carduacea is a Annual/Perennial up to 0.65 metres tall.
It is harvested from the wild for local use as a food.

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

,

Range

South-western N. America - California.

Habitat

Sandy and gravelly places below 1350 metres[]. Open grassy places[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Habit	Annual/Perennial
Height	0.65 m
Pollinators	Bees
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

Requires a very well-drained light sandy soil in a sunny position[]. Prefers a rich soil[]. Plants can be killed by excessive winter wet[].
This species is not very cold-hardy in Britain, tolerating short periods when temperatures fall to about -3°c[]. An autumn-germination plant in the wild, it might succeed outdoors in the milder areas of the country but is usually either grown as a spring-sown annual in Britain or grown in an alpine greenhouse[, ].
Members of this genus are rarely if ever troubled by browsing deer[].

Edible Uses

Seed - raw or cooked. It can be roasted, then ground into a powder and used with other seeds as a mush[, , , ]. The seeds can be added to wheat to improve the flavour[]. It can also be used as a cooling beverage[, , ].

Medicinal

None known

Other Uses

None known

Propagation

Seed - sow early to mid spring in a greenhouse[]. Germination usually takes place within 2 weeks. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots when they are large enough to handle and plant them out in early summer. In areas where the plant is towards the limits of its hardiness, it is best to grow the plants on in a greenhouse for their first winter and plant them out in late spring of the following year.
Cuttings of half-ripe wood succeed at almost any time in the growing season[].