Salvia moorcroftiana Wall. ex Benth.- Shobri (शोबरी ), Thuth, kalijari, Halu, Papra

Family: Lamiaceae
Common Name: Kashmir Salvia
Local Name: Shobri (शोबरी), Thuth, kalijari, Halu, Papra

Shobri is fairly common in Himalayas and chiefly found in the temperate part of Western Himalayas from Kashmir to Kumon. It is usually seen growing in open slopes along roadsides and wasteland up to 1000-2600m. Plant grows best in a sunny very well-drained habitat

Stem of this plant is edible both raw and cooked. It is eaten raw after peeling. Peeled stems are frequently eaten raw by children and occasionally cooked with other green vegetable and potato into delicious vegetable. Locally the roots of shobri are used in stomach pains and to cure cold and cough.

Plant is harvested from wild habitat as source of food and medicine.

Shobri Plant:

Plant is perennial, robust, woolly herbs, 45-90 cm high. Stem is branched above.

Leaves are thick, petiole long, ovate or oblong, 15-30 to 7-15 cm, irregularly lobed, crenate or sharply toothed, wrinkled, nearly glabrous or cottony – tomentose above, white lanceolate beneath.

Flowers ca 2.5cm long, pale –blue, lilac nearly white, in distant whorls; bracts are orbicular, abruptly pointed, pale, green- veined. Calyx campanulate; teeth spinous. Corolla – tube much longer then the calyx; upper lip long, curved, flattened, concave; lower lip with lateral lobes reflexed. Stamens 2.

Nutlets are subglobose, smooth and reticulate.

Shobri can provide edible stem throughout the year but best these can be collected from spring to pre-winter season of the year.

Edible Uses

Stem of shobri are peeled off and occasionally cooked into vegetable with other green vegetables.

Vegetable:

Ingredients:

Peeled off, chopped stem, 1 kg; medium sized chopped(bean strip shaped) potato, 2-4; mustard oil, 3-4 table spoons; coriander powder 1 table spoon; fenugreek powder, ½ table spoon; cumin seed, 1 tea spoon; turmeric powder, 1/2 table spoon; red chilies; 2-3 medium sized chopped onions, 2; garlic, 4-5 cloves; ginger paste, ½ table spoon;; garam masala, ½ tea spoon;1 cup amount chopped green coriander leaves and salt according to taste.

Method:

For preparing sabji, peeled off, chopped stem is sauted in hot oil along with potatoes and spices listed before in sequence, cook for 5-10 minutes, garnish the recipe with chopped coriander leaves and garam masala then serve with chapatis. The preparation tastes very good.

Seek professional advice before treating this plant medicinally.

Medicinal Uses:

Roots yields essential oil, used in cold and cough ¹. Leaves are used gor guinea- worm and are applied as poultics for boils, wounds and chronic affections of the skin ². Seeds are considered useful in hemorrhoids, dysentery and colic, and applied on boils ¹.

Chemical Constituents:

Essential oil and mucilage ².