The Old World type grows to approximately 60 cm (2 ft) tall and wide, with lavender flowers most common, though they can also be white, pink, or purple.

Leaves are grey-green, rugose on the upper side, and nearly white underneath due to the many short soft hairs.

Modern cultivars include leaves with purple, rose, cream, and yellow in many variegated combinations.

In favourable conditions in the garden, S. officinalis can grow to a substantial size (1 square metre or more), but a number of cultivars are more compact.

Pliny the Elder said the latter plant was called salvia by the Romans, and used as a diuretic, a local anesthetic for the skin, a styptic, and for other uses.

[10] Walafrid Strabo described it in his poem Hortulus as having a sweet scent and being useful for many human ailments—he went back to the Greek root for the name and called it lelifagus.

[11] The plant had a high reputation throughout the Middle Ages, with many sayings referring to its healing properties and value.

[13] John Gerard's Herball (1597) states that sage "is singularly good for the head and brain, it quickeneth the senses and memory, strengtheneth the sinews, restoreth health to those that have the palsy, and taketh away shakey trembling of the members.

[11] In Britain, sage has for generations been listed as one of the essential herbs, along with parsley, rosemary, and thyme (as in the folk song "Scarborough Fair").

[citation needed] In 2014 and 2017, extracts of Salvia officinalis and S. lavandulaefolia were under preliminary research for their potential effects on human brain function.