Salvia divinorum (also known as
sage of the diviners,
ska maría pastora,
seer's sage,
yerba de la pastoraand just
salvia) is a
psychoactive plant which can induce
visions and other altered and spiritual experiences. Its native habitat is in
cloud forest in the isolated
Sierra Mazateca of
Oaxaca,
Mexico, where it grows in shady and moist locations. The plant grows to over a meter high, has hollow square stems, large leaves, and occasional white flowers with violet
calyxes. Botanists have not determined whether
Salvia divinorum is a
cultigen or a hybrid; native plants reproduce
vegetatively, rarely producing viable seed.