Salvia is one of the largest genera of the family Lamiaceae. It is widely distributed in the temperate, subtropical, and tropical regions all over the world. Besides its ethnobotanical importance, some species such as S. officinalis (sage, common sage), S. sclarea (clary sage), S. lavandulifolia (Spanish sage), S. miltiorrhiza (danshen), and S. hispanica (chia) are traded on the market as a food and because of the interest in their essential oils and/or popularity in traditional medicine. The high diversity of the Salvia genus and phytochemical richness generate great interest for discovering new biological active compounds, including those found in essential oils. Salvia plant essential oils exhibit broad-spectrum pharmacological activities and represent great interest for food preservation as potential natural products. Thus, this review describes the phytochemical composition of essential oils from different Salvia spp. according to the geographic regions, plant organ, and phenological stage. Moreover, the cultivation and growing conditions of Salvia plants have been also revised. Finally, the interest on Salvia plants for food and pharmaceutical applications has been covered, through reporting their biological properties, including as antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-alzheimer, hypotensive, anti-hyperglycemia, anti-hyperlipidemia, anti-cancer, and skin curative agents.

丹参是唇形科的最大属之一。它广泛分布在全球的温带，亚热带和热带地区。除了其对人类植物学的重要性外，还有一些物种，例如厚朴的鼠尾草（Sage officinalis），鼠尾草（S. sclarea）（克拉克鼠尾草），西班牙的鼠尾草（S. lavandulifolia），丹参（Shens miltiorrhiza）和西班牙种的S. hispanica（chia）。由于对精油的兴趣和/或在传统医学中的普及，因此作为食品在市场上进行交易。丹参属植物的高度多样性和丰富的植物化学成分引起了人们对发现新的生物活性化合物（包括在精油中发现的那些生物活性化合物）的浓厚兴趣。丹参植物精油显示出广谱的药理活性，并作为潜在的天然产物对食品保藏表示出极大的兴趣。因此，本综述描述了来自不同丹参属植物的香精油的植物化学组成。根据地理区域，植物器官和物候期而定。此外，丹参植物的栽培和生长条件也得到了修改。最后，通过报告丹参植物的生物学特性，包括其抗氧化剂，抗微生物剂，抗早老性痴呆症，降压，抗高血糖症，抗高血脂症，抗癌和皮肤治疗剂的生物学特性，已经涵盖了其对食品和药物应用的兴趣。。