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sage confusion
2008-Oct-05, Sunday 04:20 pmYesterday, I drove out to the Arboretum. I had announced it on a local Bears email list earlier in the week. Nobody said they were planning to go out too, but hopefully I didn't miss spotting someone at the main building entrance at the start time that I announced. I didn't see any Bears there or at the entrance for the other building, so I went outside and wandered around on my own for a few hours.
The trees here are beginning to turn their fall colors, so next week and the week after should be really pretty out at the Arboretum. It was my first time to visit the place, so I just roamed aimlessly to see where trails would take me. Much of the central area near the buildings was landscaped, with every plant having its own little sign identifying its scientific and common names. Sometimes the common names are useful (like "Red Baneberry" which discouraged me from tasting the pretty but highly poisonous fruit). Sometimes, though, the names are confusing.
One plant, which looked just like one that I had at home, was named Artemisia ludoviciana or "western mugwort". I'd not heard that name for it before. I thought I was growing a prairie sage, the kind used for smudging. *confusion* When I was back home at my computer, I looked up the plant online and found that it's also called "white sagebrush". Yes, that's what I thought it was. Yes, it is used for smudging. But looking around online some more, I find that what appears to be the proper plant for smudging is "white sage" or Salvia apiana. *more confusion*
I look up both of them in relation to smudging. Sure enough, various herbal stores online sell one or the other as their smudge sticks. I'm having no luck yet, though, finding one that explains the difference between them. It may be that each of the plants has a different native area, and local Indians used their local plants for the same function. I don't know, I'm just guessing.
Does anyone out there know something that can clear up my confusion on this matter? Is it "white sage" or "white sagebrush" that is the canonical ingredient for making smudge sticks? What is the history for these two plants?
The trees here are beginning to turn their fall colors, so next week and the week after should be really pretty out at the Arboretum. It was my first time to visit the place, so I just roamed aimlessly to see where trails would take me. Much of the central area near the buildings was landscaped, with every plant having its own little sign identifying its scientific and common names. Sometimes the common names are useful (like "Red Baneberry" which discouraged me from tasting the pretty but highly poisonous fruit). Sometimes, though, the names are confusing.
One plant, which looked just like one that I had at home, was named Artemisia ludoviciana or "western mugwort". I'd not heard that name for it before. I thought I was growing a prairie sage, the kind used for smudging. *confusion* When I was back home at my computer, I looked up the plant online and found that it's also called "white sagebrush". Yes, that's what I thought it was. Yes, it is used for smudging. But looking around online some more, I find that what appears to be the proper plant for smudging is "white sage" or Salvia apiana. *more confusion*
I look up both of them in relation to smudging. Sure enough, various herbal stores online sell one or the other as their smudge sticks. I'm having no luck yet, though, finding one that explains the difference between them. It may be that each of the plants has a different native area, and local Indians used their local plants for the same function. I don't know, I'm just guessing.
Does anyone out there know something that can clear up my confusion on this matter? Is it "white sage" or "white sagebrush" that is the canonical ingredient for making smudge sticks? What is the history for these two plants?