Santa Monica Mountains Trails Council Plants Resource Page

Plant of the Month - Yerba Santa

Cottonwood

Yerba Santa

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Plant Description

Common Name(s):Yerba Santa
Scientific Name:Eriodichtyon crassifolium
Family:Boraginaceae (Waterleaf)
Plant Type:Shrub
Size:up to 8 feet
Habitat:Sandy, rocky areas in chaparral and sage scrub
Blooms:January to June
Fire Response:Stump Sprout or Seed

While not especially stunning at this time of year, you may encounter Yerba Santa putting forth fresh leaves along the trails in December. This aromatic evergreen shrub has thick, leathery and hairy leaves that start out a deep grayish-green and later in the season turn grayer and often appear dusty and shrivelled. It indiscriminately dwells in washes, mesas or slopes, generally wherever the soil is sandy and rocky.

Flowering happens in March through June, with groups of lavendar, tubular flowers appearing on the ends of the plant's stems. Leaves are lance- or oval-shaped, up to 6 inches long, and about an inch or two wide, with have sawtooth or scalloped edges. The base of the plant is woody, and the bark shreds.

Yerba Santa means "Holy Herb" in Spanish, and had several uses by both Spanish settlers and Native Americans in our region. The leaves made a nice tea and in addition were used medicinally in this manner for curing various respiratory ailments and fevers. Eriodichtyon means "wooly net", and crassifolium means "thick-leaved".

Contributed by Liz Baumann


Yerba Santa - Originally featured: December 2008
Last modified: October 14 2017 09:40:00.
References:
Wildflowers of the Santa Monica Mountains, by Milt McAuley
Flowering Plants: The Santa Monica Mountains, Coastal and Chaparral Regions of Southern California, by Nancy Dale
Chumash Ethnobotany: Plant Knowledge Among the Chumash People.., by Jan Timbrook
Images Botanical Terms for Leaves