Witnessed by: Western
Yerba santa (Eriodictyon californicum), of the Boraginaceae family. Erect evergreen shrub of the chaparral, freely suckering, the branches gummy, quick to return after fire; native range: dry chaparral slopes and burnt ground of California and southern Oregon. Globally recognized as yerba santa · hierba santa in Spanish, and yerba santa, mountain balm, bear's weed, consumptive's weed, gum bush in English. The part used is leaf. A narrow leathery leaf, varnished glossy with resin above and white-woolly and net-veined beneath, so sticky it clings to the hand; aromatic and balsamic, the taste bitter and pungently resinous, then oddly sweet, and it leaves the mouth unable to taste bitterness for some minutes after.
In this cross-tradition database, we analyze how this substance operates across world medicine systems — tracking its traditional tastes, temperatures, tissue affinities, post-digestive effects, and planetary correspondences across Ayurveda, Unani, and Western herbalism.
YERBA SANTA
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- yerba santa
- Scientific name
- Eriodictyon californicum (Hook. & Arn.) Torr.
- Family
- Boraginaceae
Form
- Part used
- leaf
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- Western
- aromatic · pungent · bitter
Temperature
- Western
- warm
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- Western
- lungs · mucous membranes · stomach
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Western
- stimulating expectorant, bronchial relaxant, aromatic bitter and stomachic, mild diaphoretic, taste-masking (it abolishes bitterness on the tongue)
Cautions
- Contraindications
- dry irritable cough without phlegm, where a stimulating expectorant only aggravates
- Toxicity
- no toxicity of note
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