Lamiaceae FAMILY

Salvia hispanica

Edibility

3/5

Medicinal

3/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Botanical Description

Salvia hispanica is a rather stout, erect annual plan with a simple or sparsely branched stem; it usually grows up to 100cm tall[ 331 Title Flora of Guatemala Publication Author Standley P.C. & J. A. Steyermark Website http://www.archive.org/ Publisher Year 1946 - 1976 ISBN Description A superb reference, though somewhat dated. Gives lots of plant uses as well as information on plant habit and habitat. The entire flora (13 volumes) can now be downloaded from http://www.archive.org/ ]. Mexican Chia is known to have been in cultivation by the Aztecs as a food crop before the Spanish invasion - the plant is still widely cultivated at the present day for its edible seed in Mexico and Guatemala[ 317 Title Mansfeld's Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Plants Publication Author Website http://mansfeld.ipk-gatersleben.de/pls/htmldb_pgrc/f?p=185:3:4292127278597336 Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description Terse details of a huge range of useful plants. ]. The plant also yields an oil and has a number of local medicinal applications.

Habitat & Origin

Origintemperate; tropical

Native RangeSouthern S. America - Ecuador, Colombia; C. America - Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, north to southern Mexico

HabitatMoist or dry thickets or open, often rocky slopes or fields, sometimes on sandbars along streams, often a weed in cultivated or waste ground, sometimes in open oak forest at elevations from 1,150 - 2,500 metres[ 331 Title Flora of Guatemala Publication Author Standley P.C. & J. A. Steyermark Website http://www.archive.org/ Publisher Year 1946 - 1976 ISBN Description A superb reference, though somewhat dated. Gives lots of plant uses as well as information on plant habit and habitat. The entire flora (13 volumes) can now be downloaded from http://www.archive.org/ ].