It looks simple, plain, maybe even a little boring.
But crush the leaf of the Cudweed Sagewort and WHOOO-EEEE! The overwhelming smell of… Thanksgiving?
The aroma of turkey dressing, with flecks of celery, and fragrance of sage. The leaves smell like sage!
The name of this plant suddenly makes sense (haha- smelling “scents”- get it).
Loosely translated in Latin, “wort” means “in the leaf”. So sagewort means “sage in the leaf”.
Above is a picture of the sagewort as a mature plant with small seeds.
Warning: a little gal was doing some plant ID with me and swelled up like a balloon when she smelled the crushed leaves. So if you have allergies like she did, you might want to pass on the smell test.
If you don’t want to smell the leaves, you can identify the plant by its white-silver color. The leaves are also covered with small hairs.
Between the strong sage taste and the hairy feel of the leaves, Cudweed Sagewort is not the cattle’s favorite food to eat.
