Description:
Annual growing to 0.3m by 0.4m.
Summer Savory is a hardy, pubescent annual, with slender erect
stems about a foot high. It flowers in July, having small,
pale lilac labiate flowers, axillary, on short pedicels, the
common peduncle sometimes three-flowered. The leaves, about
1/2 inch long, are entire, oblong-linear, acute, shortly narrowed
at the base into petioles, often fascicled. The hairs
on the stem are short and decurved.
Distribution and habitat:
Cultivated Beds.
Summer savory grows in S.E. Europe to W. Asia.
Hystory:
In Shakespeare's time, Savory was a familiar herb, for we
find it mentioned, together with the mints, marjoram and lavender,
in The Winter's Tale. In ancient days, the Savorys were supposed
to belong to the Satyrs, hence the name Satureia.
Parts used:
Herb.
Constituens:
Edible Uses:
Edible Parts: Leaves.
Edible Uses: Condiment; Tea.
Leaves - raw or cooked. An aromatic,
slightly peppery flavour, they are used mainly as a flavouring
for cooked foods, especially the more difficult to digest foods
such as beans where they compliment the flavour and reduce
flatulence. They are also used as a garnish for salads etc.
The leaves can be used fresh or dried. A herb tea is made from
the leaves. The leaves are harvested just before the plant
comes into flower. A tangy, marjoram-like flavour. The flowering
shoots contain about 0.5% essential oil,
this is used as a food flavouring.
Medicinal Uses:
Antirheumatic;
Antiseptic;
Aromatic;
Carminative;
Digestive;
Expectorant;
Stings;
Stomachic.
Summer savory is most often used as a culinary herb, but it
also has marked medicinal benefits, especially upon the whole
digestive system.
The plant has a milder action than the closely related winter
savory, S. montana. The whole herb, and especially the flowering
shoots, is
antiseptic,
aromatic,
carminative, digestive,
expectorant and
stomachic.
Taken internally, it is said to be a sovereign remedy for colic
and a cure for flatulence, whilst it is also used to treat
nausea, diarrhoea, bronchial congestion, sore throat and menstrual
disorders. It should not be prescribed for pregnant women.
A sprig of the plant, rubbed onto bee or wasp stings,
brings instant relief. The plant is harvested in the summer
when in flower and can be used fresh or dried. The
essential oil
forms an ingredient in lotions for the scalp in cases of incipient
baldness. An ointment made from the plant is used externally
to relieve arthritic joints.
Others Uses:
Essential;
Repellent.
The rssential oil
from the flowering shoots is used extensively in perfumery,
giving a particular quality to the fragrance. When grown near
beans it repels insect pests.
Safety:
None known
