Plants that start with S

Sage is a shrub originally from the Mediterranean region. It has pale greyish furry leaves, and grows all year around. Is used to flavour fatty meat dishes, and as an ingredient in sausages in some countries. It is very commonly used with onions as stuffing for chicken or pork.

Sap is the thick, sticky fluid that is inside tree branches and stems. You can't see it until the plant is damaged in some way, like having a branch cut off or some kind of insect bores a hole into it. Many kinds of sap are sweet and are eaten by birds and insects. People collect the sap from maple trees to make maple syrup. Latex is made from sap as well.

Seaweed is the common name for any very large kinds of algae that grow in the sea. Seaweed comes in all shapes and sizes, but the majority is long and thin and strap-like. Some kinds of seaweed are edible, and can be used raw or cooked in soups or in sushi.

Sesame seeds are the seeds of a plant from Africa and India that grows to about a metre high. The seeds can be pressed to extract the oil but are used most often sprinkled on other foods as a flavour and garnish. You often see them stuck to the top of loaves of bread. The sesame seeds in the picture are on top of some cooked spinach.

Shrubs, sometimes called bushes, are small trees that branch from near the ground instead of having a long, bare trunk. Shrubs are often grown in people's gardens.