Holyland Sage

Salvia judaica Origin: Eastern Mediterranean Improvement status: Cultivated wild material Seeds per packet: ~50 Germination tested 11/2023: 85% Life cycle: Perennial (Zones 8-11) This plant is a medicinal, ornamental, and ceremonially important sage from the eastern Mediterranean. Like most sages, it's a square-stemmed aromatic plant with culinary and medicinal uses. Recent studies have shown promise in fighting cancer. It is commonly referred to in English as "Judean Sage," but we've opted for the slightly less controversial "Holyland Sage." Why is "Judean" controversial? Because the Israeli government uses "Judaea and Samaria" as the official administrative name for the occupied West Bank, thereby ascribing two biblical names to an area that also happens to be the Palestinian heartland (in addition to being of great symbolic importance to Jews) and has been under Israeli occupation since the 1967 Six Day War. Palestinians rightly consider the use of the term Judea (along with the on