This oil is a perfect illustration for the beauty of essential oils made under the SIMPLES certification. It is not clear whether the plants the artisans gather is a subspecies of Salvia officinalis or a subspecies of Salvia lavandulifolia. Our distiller says as much:
“Our oil is from one plant and culture, but indeed the taxonomy is not clear at all. I would like to find the real name for our cultivar to avoid officinalis because in France the sale of Sage officinale (the one that contains a lot of ketones) is reserved for pharmacies. Some call our oil S. lavandulifolia but it's not correct because Sage lavandulifolia is not sterile like ours."

What we know is that only the young plants with small leaves are gathered for distillation. This practice is credited for the very low thujone content. Strongly oxidized components like ketones generally arise late in the plant's maturation process.

Sage has a longstanding reputation in British herbal encyclopedias as an agent that enhances memory. Reading current science one finds that results supporting this traditional perception have been obtained with multiple species of Sage. That is why the Sage petites feuilles is so precious. Apparently it contains all or more of the memory enhancing components found in other Sages, i.e. the S. officinalis or S. lavandulifolia but with a lot less of the potentially toxic ketones.

Along with the documented memory benefits, Sage petites feuilles has proven regenerative action for nerve tissue. It is included in the Modern Magic Nerve Repair blend to be utilize its neuroprotective activity. This oil has demonstrated the remarkable ability to repair nerve tissue that has suffered damage due to injury or surgical complications. 

Following are two representative studies for the memory enhancing and neuro protective qualities.

One study says, “….exerted the major neuroprotective activity. Our findings demonstrate that S. lavandulifolia essential oils may have therapeutic value for the prevention and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases associated with oxidative stress-induced neuronal injury.”

Food and Chemical Toxicology Volume 80, June 2015, Pages 154-162

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fct.2015.03.002

Another study says, “The 50μL dose of Salvia essential oil significantly improved immediate word recall in both studies. These results represent the first systematic evidence that Salvia is capable of acute modulation of cognition in healthy young adults.”

Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior, Volume 75, Issue 3, June 2003, Pages 669-674. Salvia lavandulaefolia (Spanish Sage) enhances memory in healthy young volunteers.

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0091-3057(03)00122-9

We normally reserve all of the Sage petites feuilles we receive in order to produce our popular Nerve Repair blends. Nature was generous so we can afford to make the precious oil itself available in limited quantities for the first time in several years. We are pleased to offer a 15% discount on our limited allotment of Sage petites feuilles as well as both of our Nerve Repair blends. This offer is available April 14th through April 18th, 2022.