Abstract
Today, medicinal and aromatic plants are consumed extensively in different fields and industries. In parallel with consumption, the trade volume of these plants in the world is increasing day by day. One of the important export products of our country is sage and its essential oil. In 2020, 8,155,503 dollars were obtained with the export of approximately 2,176 tons of sage, and a foreign exchange entry of 173,504 dollars was obtained with the export of 27,396 kg of sage essential oil. The trade of sage is carried out through cultivation in different provinces and collecting from nature. It is difficult to obtain products with the desired quality and standard in collecting from nature. In addition, excessive and unconscious collecting leads to the over-exploitation of sage populations, their unsustainable extinction, and the narrowing of their genetic base. For this reason, in order to ensure its sustainable use, it is necessary to expand the cultivation of high quality and high yield sage in the amount and standards required by the world markets. Previous studies have showed that the yield and quality of sage production varies according to the region where the cultivation is made, the climatic and soil conditions of the region, harvest times, drying conditions and agricultural practices. In this review, the general situation of Salvia tomentosa Mill. and Salvia fruticosa Mill., which are naturally distributed in our country, and Salvia officinalis species, which are cultivated, and different applications, problems encountered, and their results in cultivation with the commercial importance of these species were mentioned.