Introduction Most members of the family Lamiaceae have considerable importance in areas such as medicine, food, cosmetics, and perfumery, as they are rich in essential oils, aromatic oils, and secondary metabolites. Sage, a member of this family, is the generic name for species in the genus Salvia, which has approximately 900 species worldwide (Dweck, 2000). There are 99 species of the genus Salvia L. in Turkey; 51 of these species are endemic. Turkey is one of the important gene centers for Salvia species (Güner et al., 2012). These species include annual, perennial, and biennial plants in bush form. As important medical plants since ancient times, the leaves, flowers, shoot tips, and partial stems of Salvia species are all utilized. In folk medicine, sage leaves are valued for the treatment of many disorders and have been used for their soothing properties, for pain relief and prevention of colds and coughs, for lowering blood pressure, and for sweat-breaking; they have been used as expectorants, disinfectants, and muscle pain relievers, and as a part of midwifery practice (Sarı et al., 2012; Bayram et al., 2016). Consumption of these species as herbal teas is quite common, as well. Salvia species appeal to a wide range of consumer groups due to their characteristics, and because they are used in the food, pharmaceutical, and chemical industries their market potential is quite high. The S. virgata species belonging to the genus Salvia is a perennial and herbaceous plant that can grow up to 30-100 cm high with an erect and highly branched structure. The leaves are simple, usually scattered on the body, sometimes collected on the base. The flower is a compound cluster. The petals are violet, blue, or mauve, rarely white, and it favors a wide variety of habitats such as shrubland, forests, meadows, low fields, limestone and volcanic rocks, and roadsides (