Yerba Santa
(Eriodictyon californicum)
Also know as Bear's Weed
Botanical Information
A sticky, shiny-leaved aromatic resinous shrub of dry hillsides and deserts with sprays of lavender flowers in the Waterleaf familly.
Working with Yerba Santa
Part(s) Used
Herb
Herb Forms
Tincture, bulk herb for tea, syrups.
Affects
Yerba santa is an expectorant herb useful for asthma, bronchitis, pleurisy, and moist coughs. It is also used as a bitter tonic to stimulate digestion (chewing on tender young yerba santa leaves is good for digestion). The herb has an agreeable, bitter, and resinous taste. The tincture is useful to mask the objectionable taste of very bitter herbs, such as cascara sagrada.
Grindelia, another well-known spicy warm respiratory plant, is often blended with yerba santa.
Yerba Santa has a taste of SPICY, AROMATIC and a temperature of VERY WARM.
Cautions
None known.
