Simisage have long been described as among the wisest of the pokemon, for they combine the intelligence of a primate with the long lifespan and leisure time of a grass-type. It is through the legends surrounding this pokemon that the word 'sage', initially used to describe only plants resembling the tails or heads of Pansage and Simisage, became applied instead to the wisest of men – and yet to this day, many Unovans ignore the accumulated wisdom of generations of wise men, let alone any individual human sage, and instead seek out a Simisage to answer their dilemmas.
The advice these pokemon give is hard to receive, for Simisage are reclusive and temperamental creatures, who would just as soon swing their thorny, barbed tails at those who disturb their contemplation as give them the answer which they seek. And it is harder still to interpret, for although Simisage are extremely intelligent creatures, they are not only incapable of speaking the human tongue, but often answer with elaborate gestures which even properly deciphered are so critically lacking in specificity that their responses are as much riddle as answer.
But although opaque, Simisage are never wrong; it is simply that the wisdom of their statements is often realized only after the quandary for which they were sought as advisers has already run its course. It is said that this is why learned humans sought to accumulate the knowledge of these pokemon, yet ironically, the most renowned of all sages have learned like the Simisage to eschew the straightforward in favor of puzzling answers. There is, however, no truth to the occasional rumors of Simisage leaves growing out of their heads; this description, although at times understood today to mean humans evolve into Simisage, first appeared in print as a critical metaphor.