Clary Sage : A high value aromatic crop suitable for agricultural industrialisation

114-121Clary sage (Salvia sclarea) al so known as clary sage, clary, eye bright, clear eye, clary wart, muscatel sage is an important aromatic herb that belongs to family Lamiaceae. It is a native of Southern Europe. Its oil is widely used in cosmetics, soaps and food preparations. Besides, the oil has medicinal properties and is used in treating stress, tension, depression, insomnia, indigestion, menstruation, sore throat and hysteriac. It is valuable for its concrete, absolute, sclareol and ambrox. Its oil has coriander like aroma notes and contains 16% linalool and 67% linalyl acetate. The concrete contains 70% sclareol which is required as a starting material for ambrox. It is grown in dry temperate areas of Himalayas with no rain or scanty rain as rainy weather reduces essential oil content. With the emergence of improved cultivars, its cultivation is now also possible in north Indian plains. It is mainly propagated by seeds. The seeds are sown either in March-April or August-September. The nursery raised during March-April is transplanted in October while nursery raised during August- September is transplanted during March-April. It is ready for harvesting in August-September and yields 5000-6000 kg inflorescence per hectare which gives oil yield of 22 to 25 kg/ha. The cost of essential oil varied from Rs. 4000 to Rs. <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic">5500/L. The sclareol and ambrox derived from this plant are also sold at premium prices in the international market. The medicinal and aromatic plant growers can benefit from this new emerging crop.