Yerba Santé

Yerba Santé was highly valued by many California tribes including the Salinan, Ohlone, Miwok, Pomo, and Yokuts who continue to use it for various medicinal purposes.

Yerba santé (Eriodictyon californica) is an aromatic evergreen shrub that grows to about six to seven feet in height and is native to the western part of North America. The leaves have an anise-like, balsamic flavor. Yerba Santé leaves are harvested after flowering, typically summer into fall, when leaves begin to be tacky but are still green.

Also called mountain balm and bearsweed, this herb is used to treat coughs, colds, and other respiratory problems, as well as fevers. Many tribes dried and then smoked the leaves of the herb as a treatment for asthma and lung congestion.

The leaves and flowers were made into a “bitter or sweetish-soapy” tasting tea that was drunk to relieve headaches and other symptoms of tuberculosis. Infusions of Yerba Santé leaves and flowers were used to treat fevers, coughs, colds, stomachaches asthma, rheumatism pleurisy, and to purify the blood.

To make a tea, pour one cup of boiling water over the one tea spoon of Yerba Santé leaves; steep for thirty minutes and strain.
Yerba Santé