Yerba Santa

Eriodictyon californicum

COMMON NAMES

• Bear's Weed
• Consumptive's Weed
• Gum Bush
• Mountain Balm
• Tarweed
• Yerba Santa

The yerba santa is a muggy aromatic shrub that grows round the year. The shrub normally grows up to a height of eight feet or 2.5 meters and bears slender spear shaped leaves. The leaves of the yerba santa shrub are green and glossy on the upper side and covered with fine white hairs underneath. The shrub bears whitish or blue colored flowers in bunches that resemble the trumpets.

Interestingly, the early Spanish settlers in America, who learnt about the herb’s therapeutic benefits from the Native Americans, named the shrub yerba santa meaning the holy weed. According to convention, the Native Americans permeated the leaves of yerba santa in hot water and took the substance to treat ailments like coughs, colds, sore throats, asthma and mucus. While the infusion prepared with the yerba santa leaves was also used as a wash or bath to alleviate fever, poultices prepared with crushed leaves of the shrub were applied externally to treat different types of pains. Incidentally, the Eclectic Medical Journal published an article on the uses of the yerba santa in 1875, while, in 1894, the shrub was listed in the Pharmacopoeia of the United States granting the approval of its therapeutic use.

PARTS USED

Leaves.

USES

The yerba santa is a fragrant herb with an enjoyable sweet taste. The herb is considered to be a precious expectorant (a medicine that cures coughs) and is used to cure ailments like tracheitis, bronchitis and asthma. It is also useful in treating all similar respiratory tract disorders.

Herbal medicinal practitioners recommend the yerba santa or medicines prepared with it or its extracts to treat bronchial and laryngeal problems. In addition, in combination with other herbs such as Grindelia robusta, yerba santa is also effective in curing insistent pulmonary infections, hay fever and asthma. The use of the herb is also recommended for treating disorders like hemorrhoids (painful varicose veins in the anus canal) and also for catarrh of the gallbladder. The herb is widely used as a bitter tonic as well as a balsamic expectorant and mostly to cover up the horrible experience of quinine. While aromatic syrup prepared with the herb is best to use with quinine, many people smoke the yerba santa leaves to treat asthma.

Other medical uses

• Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease ( COPD )

HABITAT AND CULTIVATION

The yerba santa is indigenous to the California and Oregon regions in the United States and is also found in the northern parts of neighboring Mexico. The plant grows naturally and thrives on arid mountain slopes. The yerba santa normally grows at altitudes of approximately up to 4000 feet or 1200 meters above the sea level.

CONSTITUENTS

The five main elements of the yerba santa comprise phenolic bodies, flavonoids (eriodictyol), homoeriodictyol, chrysocriol, eridonel and zanthoeridol. Chemical analysis of the yerba santa has further confirmed that the herb contains free formic and other acids, glycerides of fatty acids, yellow colored unstable oil, a phytosterol, some amount of resin, volatile oil, and some glucose. The herb is balsamic and sweetish to taste and later unpleasantly pungent, but not sour. The substance reminds one of dulcamara (a homeopathic remedy prepared from the woody nightshade) and is used to enhance the secretion of saliva. The plant has an aromatic essence and bears leaves that are fragile when dehydrated, but supple in a warm and humid atmosphere. The Eriodictyon Californicum has been officially approved by the United States Dispensary for medical use.

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