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Red sage

Salvia miltiorrhiza

Also called Chinese Salvia, Redroot Sage, Astral Sage, Chinese Sage

Red sage
Photo: First Light (talk), CC BY 3.0

Red sage (Salvia miltiorrhiza) is a deciduous perennial in the mint family, grown mainly for its red-skinned medicinal roots in traditional Chinese medicine. It thrives in well-drained soil with about half a day of sun and is hardy to around -10 °C.

Family
Lamiaceae (Mint family)
Grows as
Perennial
Light
Part shade, Full sun
Water
Water regularly while establishing, then let the top of the soil dry slightly between waterings; avoid waterlogging.
Soil
Well-drained, fertile garden soil or loam.
Temperature
Hardy to about -10 °C; grows best in temperate conditions.
How easy
Easy
Safety
Not known to be toxic
Native range
C. & S. China to Vietnam
Climate
temperate

About

Salvia miltiorrhiza (Chinese: 丹參; pinyin: dānshēn), also known as red sage, redroot sage, Chinese sage, or danshen, is a perennial plant in the family Lamiaceae, highly valued for its roots in traditional Chinese medicine. Native to China and Japan, it grows at 90 to 1,200 m (300 to 3,940 ft) elevation, preferring grassy places in forests, hillsides, and along stream banks. The specific epithet miltiorrhiza means "red ochre root".

Other Salvia plants

Egyptian Sage · Mediterranean sage · White sage · Brown Sage · Santa Rosa Island sage · Buchanan's Sage · Guatemalan Leaf Sage · Candelabra Sage · Cayman sage · Fragrant sage · Blood sage · Chia

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Salvia miltiorrhiza by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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