Yerba Santa

August 30th, 2008

Botanical Name: Eriodictyon glutinosum (BENTH.)
Family: N.O. Hydrophyllaceae
Common names: Mountain Balm, Bear’s Weed, Gum Plant, Consumptive Weed, and Sacred Herb.
Synonyms: Mountain Balm. Consumptive’s Weed. Gum Bush. Bear’s Weed. Holy or Sacred Herb. Eriodictyon Californicum (Hook and Arn.).
Part Used: Dried leaves.
Habitat: California, Northern Mexico.

Description:Yerba Santa is an evergreen aromatic shrub with woody rhizomes, typically growing to a height of 3 to 4 feet (1 m +) The dark green, leathery leaves are oblong to lanceolate and covered with shiny resin. They grow in an alternate arrangement and are pinnately veined and usually serrate. The taste of the leaves is balsamic and the flowers and leaves smell pleasantly aromatic on a warm day. Yerba Santa is native to the western and southwestern regions of North America, and is somewhat native to northern Mexico. It grows 2-6 feet in height at elevations ranging from 2000 to 3,500 ft. It is typically found in dry areas that are sparse of other vegetation. The flowers are a delicate whitish-lavender color, found in curved tubular clusters (helicoid cymes) at the top of the plant, and are pollinated by butterflies. Yerba Santa blooms from May to July, depending on the elevation. The fruit forms a grayish-brown seed capsule, oval in shape, which contains hardened black seeds.

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Yerba Santa is an exceptional member of the Waterleaf Family (Hydrophyllaceae) which also contains Phacelia, Baby Blue Eyes and Fiesta Flower. Most of these family members grow in cool, moist habitats, indicating a strong relationship to the watery element. A low, shrubby evergreen plant, found growing abundantly in clumps on dry hills in California and Northern Mexico. The stem is smooth, usually branched near the ground, and covered with a peculiar glutinous resin, which covers all the upper side of the plant. Leaves, thick and leathery, smooth, of a yellowish colour, their upper side coated with a brownish varnish-like resin, the under surface being yellowish-white reticulated and tomentose, with a prominent midrib, alternate, attached by short petioles, at acute angle with the base; shape, elliptical, narrow, 2 to 5 inches long 3/4 inch wide, acute and tapering to a short leaf-stalk at the base. The margin of the leaf, dentate, unequal, bluntly undulate. The flowers, bluish, in terminal clusters of six to ten, in a one-sided raceme, the corolla funnel-like, calyx sparsely hirsute.

Constituents:Yerba santa contains a volatile oil, flavonoids (including eriodictyol), and resin.
The chief constituents are five phenolic bodies, eriodictyol, homoeriodictyol, chrysocriol, zanthoeridol and eridonel. Free formic and other acids, glycerides of fatty acids; a yellow volatile oil; a phytosterol, a quantity of resin, some glucose. Taste, balsamic and sweetish, afterwards acrid, but not bitter, recalls Dulcamara and creates a flow of saliva. Odour, aromatic. The leaves are brittle when dry, but flexible in a warm, moist atmosphere. Eriodictyon Californicum is official in the United States Dispensary. Alcohol is the best agent for the fluid extract of the dried plant.

Medicinal Action and Uses:It was used medicinally by Native America healers for many centuries, and then taken up by the Spanish settlers, who gave it its current name, meaning “Holy Herb.”

Traditionally, the leaves were infused and taken for coughs, colds, sore throats, mucus, and asthma. The infusion was also used as a wash to ease fever, and the mashed leaves were applied as a poultice to treat sores. The Eclectic Medical Journal featured an article on yerba santa in 1875, and it was listed in the Pharmacopoeia of the United States in 1894.

Recommended for bronchial and laryngeal troubles and in chronic pulmonary affections, in the treatment of asthma and hay-fever in combination with Grindelia robusta. Likewise advised for haemorrhoids and chronic catarrh of the bladder. Much used in California as a bitter tonic and a stimulating balsamic expectorant and is a most useful vehicle to disguise the unpleasant taste of quinine. Male fern and Hydrastis. In asthma, the leaves are often smoked. Aromatic syrup is the best vehicle for quinine.

Dosage: 15 to 60 grains.

Other Species: E. tomentosum, often found growing next to E. Californicum, especially in South California, but is easily distinguished from E. Californicum, being a larger shrub, and having a dense coat of short, villous hairs, colouring with age, whity-rusty; corolla, salver-shaped; leaves oval or oblong, and obtuse.

Disclaimer:The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplements, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider

Resources:

http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/y/yersan07.html

http://www.flowersociety.org/Yerba_About.htm

http://www.herbs2000.com/herbs/herbs_yerba_santa.htm