Jacquelyn Johnson, age 9, of Winston‑Salem, NC for her question:
The sage we keep in the kitchen herb closet comes from a green‑grey plant. Its fresh odor brings to mind stuffed chickens and turkey time, The sagebrush that stars in the TV westerns is also a plant with greengrey leaves, At times, it adds a fresh, never‑to‑be‑forgotten odor to the prairie breezes. But the two plants are not at all related,
The sagebrush, in a. number of varieties, is native to the harsh, dry prairies of North America. It is tough as the Indians who wrested a living from these wastelands and fought so hard to keep them. Traveling westward, you meet it first on the flat, dry plains of Texas. Once you have seen it, the sagebrush country belongs to you forever, for you will never forget it.
Each plant is a tough, woody bush anywhere from two to 12 feet high. It stakes its claim in the dry, sandy soil some distance from its neighbors. The bush may remind you of a miniature willow tree, a poplar or a sycamore and as you look around you will see that each sagebrush is as different from its neighbors as one tree is from another. In sagebrush country, they march in the millions as far as the eye can see in all directions.
As you drive westward, you must cross wide stretches of prairie sagebrush. You will find it in Arizona and New Mexico, in Oregon and Wyoming, in parts of Washington and on the deserts of California. You will find sagebrush growing right up to the salty flats of Utah. It grows up and down the dry, brown slopes of Nevada, the Sagebrush state.
At certain seasons, the sagebrush twigs are topped with clustered blossoms, white, purple or yellow. The plant is a perennial, living year after year.
Its dry seeds are scattered by the wind and sometimes with the help of desert‑dwelling animals. Sometimes, when the seeds are ready, the little bush is no more than a bundle of dry, withered twigs, It breaks off and blows away like a tumbleweed. As it rolls and bowls over the ground the seeds are scattered. Many will be eaten by birds and desert animals. A few will rest in the dry soil until a sharp shower provides them with moisture.
For all its sweet small, most sagebrush has a bitter taste. It is not so bitter as wormwood, though much less pleasant than the tarragon, both of which plants are cousins of the sagebrush. Cattle and especially sheep will eat certain varieties of sagebrush in the winter and early spring when more tasty food is scarce.
The Indians collect the dry branches and twigs of the sagebrush for winter fuel. Its flame is hot and it burns with the sweet fresh scent of sagebrush country. The sagebrush, however, has a use far more important than its food or fuel. Its roots help anchor the loose, dry soil of desert and prairie. It protects the ground from rain and wind erosion.