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Salvia hispanica

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Salvia hispanica

Salvia hispanica, one of several related species commonly known as chia (/ˈə/), is a species of flowering plant in the mint family, Lamiaceae. It is native to central and southern Mexico and Guatemala. It is considered a pseudocereal, cultivated for its edible, hydrophilic chia seed, grown and commonly used as food in several countries of western South America, western Mexico, and the southwestern United States.

Chia is an annual herb growing up to 1.75 metres (5 feet 9 inches) tall, with opposite leaves that are 4–8 cm (1+123+14 in) long and 3–5 cm (1+14–2 in) wide. Its flowers are purple or white and are produced in numerous clusters in a spike at the end of each stem.

Typically, the seeds are small ovals with a diameter around 1 mm (132 in). They are mottle-colored, with brown, gray, black, and white. The seeds are hydrophilic, absorbing up to 12 times their weight in liquid when soaked. While soaking, the seeds develop a mucilaginous coating that gives chia-based beverages a distinctive gelatinous texture.

Many plants cultivated as S. hispanica are in fact S. officinalis subsp. lavandulifolia (syn. S. lavandulifolia).

The word chia is derived from the Nahuatl word chian, meaning 'oily'.[1]

Other plants known as chia include Salvia columbariae, which is sometimes called "golden chia",[citation needed] Salvia polystachia, and Salvia tiliifolia.

Chia is native to central and southern Mexico and Guatemala. It is hardy from USDA Zones 9–12.

Chia is grown and consumed commercially in its native Mexico and Guatemala, as well as Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, Nicaragua, northwestern Argentina, parts of Australia, and the southwestern United States. New patented varieties of chia have been bred in Kentucky for cultivation in northern latitudes of the United States.

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