Clinopodium douglasii | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Asterids |
Order: | Lamiales |
Family: | Lamiaceae |
Genus: | Clinopodium |
Species: | C. douglasii |
Binomial name | |
Clinopodium douglasii | |
Synonyms [1] | |
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Clinopodium douglasii, (synonym Micromeria douglasii), [1] yerba buena, [4] or Oregon tea [5] is a rambling aromatic herb of western and northwestern North America, ranging from British Columbia southwards to Southern California and from the Pacific coast eastwards to western Montana. [6] [7] The plant takes the form of a sprawling, mat-forming perennial. [8] The name "yerba buena" derives from Spanish for "good herb" and is applied to various other plants.
Clinopodium douglasii is a decumbent perennial herb. Leaves are in an opposite arrangement along the stem, and each leaf is subtended by a petiole, is relatively small in size, and ovate to almost triangular in shape, with the leaf margin being shallowly toothed. Flowers occur at the leaf axils, and are solitary (occasionally a cluster of 2-3 flowers) on a short pedicel. The flower consists of a tubular calyx that subtends a lobed, bilaterally symmetrical, labiate corolla typical of the mint family, white to lavender in color, and typically 3-8 millimeters in length. The inner flower, found under the upper "lip" of the corolla, consists of 2 fused styles with a 2-lobed stigma and 4 exserted stamens arranged in 2 pairs. The fruit is a tiny nutlet with a smooth surface. [4] The leaves and other parts of the plant are strongly aromatic and have a minty odor. [8]
Clinopodium douglasii was widely used by the indigenous peoples of California and the Pacific Northwest Coast, generally in the form of a tea, both as a medicine and as a beverage. Ethnobotanical records of use of the plant are recorded among many indigenous peoples ranging from the Saanich of British Columbia to the Kumeyaay of southern California. [9] [10] [11] Later Spanish- and English-speaking settlers learned of the uses of this plant from native peoples and incorporated it into their own folk medicine traditions. [12] [13] Spanish missionaries gave the name yerba buena or hierba buena (good herb) to the plant, [12] [14] a Spanish common name for spearmint and other edible mints.
The herb has had a long association with the history of San Francisco. In 1776, Pedro Font, the Franciscan chaplain of the de Anza Expedition, noted the abundance of hierba buena around the expedition's encampment at Mountain Lake, near to the Presidio of San Francisco, for which the expedition was tasked with finding a site. [14] In the Spanish and Mexican eras of San Francisco, the undeveloped northwestern corner of San Francisco, where the plant was abundant, was given the name El Paraje de Yerba Buena (Place of the Yerba Buena). The area included Yerba Buena Cove, a favored anchorage, and the name was later extended to the Isla de la Yerba Buena (Yerba Buena Island), which faced the cove. In 1835, the civilian pueblo of Yerba Buena was founded on the shores of the cove, which would later grow into the American city of San Francisco. [15] [16] "Yerba Buena" is still used for many place names in the San Francisco area.
In 1816, the Rurik expedition visited San Francisco and its chief botanist, Adelbert von Chamisso, made the first scientific collections of this species. [17] These botanical specimens were eventually sent to George Bentham, a botanist specializing in the mint family, for botanical diagnosis. [18] Bentham examined these specimens for his initial publication of this species and in latter work on this species, also examined collections made by Archibald Menzies, David Douglas, and John Scouler, among others. [19] [20] By the 20th Century, the initial collections made by von Chamisso were lost, and in 1927 Carl Epling selected an early collection made by David Douglas in 1825 at Cape Disappointment, near the mouth of the Columbia River, as the neotype specimen. This type specimen is currently deposited in Kew Herbarium. [21]
George Bentham examined von Chamisso's 1816 collections from San Francisco and made the first publication of the species name in 1831, initially recognizing the samples as belonging to two related but different species, Thymus Chamissonis (named for von Chamisso) and Thymus Douglasii (named in honor of David Douglas). [18] [Note 1] In 1834, Bentham transferred the species from Thymus to Micromeria and merged the two species under the name Micromeria Douglassii. [19] Bentham had initially separated the two based on small differences in leaf shape and position, but after examining more specimens, decided that what he had called Thymus Chamissonis was simply an ecotypic variation caused by growing in a more open environment than the specimen of Thymus Douglasii that he'd first examined. [18] [19] In 1842, Friedrich Ernst Ludwig von Fischer and Carl Anton von Meyer described a collection of yerba buena made at Fort Ross as a separate species, Micromeria barbata, based on the hairy inner surface of the corolla tube. [22] This differentiation has not been generally accepted by later authors, who regard it as a synonym of Micromeria or Clinopodium douglasii. [20] [23] [24]
When Bentham transferred this species to Micromeria, he placed it in a newly described section, Micromeria sect. Hesperothymus, alongside other species such as Micromeria Brownei , based largely on the arrangement of flowers (mostly solitary pedicellate flowers found at the leaf axils), as well as the presence of more or less dentate leaf margins and the often prostrate, spreading habit of the plant overall. [19] [20] The subgeneric classification of this species in sect. Hesperothymus was adhered to by botanical authors through the 19th and 20th Centuries, however, the generic classification of sect. Hesperothymus varied considerably between authors, leading to this species being placed in a number of genera over its history. [3] In the 1890s, Otto Kuntze [25] and John Isaac Briquet [26] argued that many of Bentham's mint family genera were poorly defined and pursued a lumping classification strategy, with Kuntze placing all sections of Micromeria within Clinopodium and Briquet placing them in Satureja . While Kuntze argued that the name Clinopodium had priority due to its use by pre-Linnean authors, Briquet's classification system proved more popular with later taxonomists. [3]
For the next century following Briquet's publication, the names Micromeria douglasii, Micromeria chamissonis, [23] [27] and Satureja douglasii [28] were all in use by various botanical authors. Usage depended on whether the author accepted Bentham's concept of the genus Micromeria or Briquet's broader concept of Satureja, [3] [29] and also on some disagreement as to whether the species epithet chamissonis or douglasii took priority, as both names had been found in the original publication of this species. New discoveries of Lamiaceae species through the 20th Century that did not fit well into Bentham's generic concepts led to more plant taxonomists (particularly in North America) embracing the broader genus concept of Satureja by the latter half of the 20th Century, and use of the name Satureja douglasii for this species overwhelmingly predominated in field guides and regional floras as a result. [3]
Beginning in the 1990s, the growth of molecular phylogenetics led to the findings that existing concepts of Satureja and Micromeria were polyphyletic and led to more circumscribed monophyletic definitions of these genera. [29] In 1995, Philip D. Cantino and Steven J. Wagstaff, carried out the first molecular phylogenetic tree that included this species, based on a restriction site analysis. They concluded that Calamintha and a number of New World Mentheae genera and species, including then-Satureja douglasii, formed a distinct clade separate from Satureja sensu stricto (represented by Satureja montana ) and from Micromeria. [30] In 1998, they recommended use of Clinopodium as a synonym for Calamintha and that the former was the older name that took priority, and that species of sect. Hesperothymus also be transferred to a new, broadly-defined genus Clinopodium, specifically listing Clinopodium douglasii (Benth.) Kuntze as the preferred name for this species. [31] This concept of Clinopodium was endorsed in later synoptical works on the family Lamiaceae and the genus Micromeria published in the 2000s. [24] [32]
In 2010, Christian Bräuchler and coauthors published a large scale molecular phylogenetic analysis of the subtribe Menthinae based on DNA sequencing of both nuclear ITS and several regions of chloroplast DNA. The resulting phylogeny showed strong support for three distinct clades within the Menthinae: Satureja, Micromeria, and a "Clinopodium group" that included a "New World" subgroup that in turn included Clinopodium douglasii along with a number of other New World species, variously under the name Clinopodium and the names of 22 other genera. The relationship of C. douglasii to other members of the New World group was not well-resolved in this analysis. The polyphyletic nature of Clinopodium was acknowledged, but no further name changes were recommended until systematic nomenclatural work was carried out on this complex group. [33]
In the 2010s, further molecular phylogenetic work on the subtribe Menthinae by Bryan T. Drew and Kenneth J. Sytsma using various chloroplast and nuclear DNA sequences more clearly resolved the cladistic structure of this group and the relationships of Clinopodium douglasii. The New World group (including C. douglasii) was again shown to be a sister clade to Clinopodium sensu strictu, and the two in turn formed a sister clade to Mentha . The Mentha/Clinopodium/New World clade formed one of the two basic clades of Menthinae, with the other clade including Micromeria, Satureja, and Thymus, among other genera. Within the New World group, the phylogenetic trees in these papers suggest a relationship between Clinopodium douglasii and several South American species currently classified as Clinopodium as well as the South American genus Minthostachys . [34] [35]
As of November 2024 [update] , Plants of the World Online continued to place the species in the genus Micromeria, [1] though databases such as the Jepson Herbarium eFlora, [4] iNaturalist, [36] Calflora, [37] and the USDA PLANTS Database [6] place the species in Clinopodium.
This species was used by native groups throughout its range of occurrence, from Southern California to western British Columbia, both as a beverage and a medicine. [9] [10] [11] The most widespread use was as a mint-flavored tea consumed as a beverage, [11] [38] [39] [40] [41] a use that was taken up by non-native settlers as well. [12] [13] The plant was also used as a medicine, particularly as a treatment for colds and fevers, for stomach upset and colic, and as a "blood purifier" or as "good for the kidneys". [11] [39] The Hoopa and Karok peoples are reported to have sometimes worn vines of the plant around their neck or in their hair as a fragrance, [42] [43] while native people of the Oregon coast are said to have used the aromatic plant to disguise their scent when hunting. [44]
The Lamiaceae or Labiatae are a family of flowering plants commonly known as the mint, deadnettle, or sage family. Many of the plants are aromatic in all parts and include widely used culinary herbs like basil, mint, rosemary, sage, savory, marjoram, oregano, hyssop, thyme, lavender, and perilla, as well as other medicinal herbs such as catnip, salvia, bee balm, wild dagga, and oriental motherwort.
Satureja is a genus of aromatic plants of the family Lamiaceae, related to rosemary and thyme. It is native to southern and southeastern Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia. Historically, Satureja was defined broadly and many species of the subtribe Menthinae from throughout the world were included in it. In the modern cladistic era of botany, Satureja was redefined to a narrower monophyletic genus who's species are all native to Eurasia. Several species are cultivated as culinary herbs called savory, and they have become established in the wild in a few places.
Yerba Buena Island sits in San Francisco Bay within the borders of the City and County of San Francisco. The Yerba Buena Tunnel runs through its center and connects the western and eastern spans of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, linking the city with Oakland, California. Treasure Island is connected by a causeway to Yerba Buena Island. According to the United States Census Bureau, Yerba Buena Island and Treasure Island together have a land area of 0.901 square miles (2.33 km2) with a total population of 2,500 as of the 2010 census.
Stachys is a genus of plants, one of the largest in the mint family Lamiaceae. Estimates of the number of species vary from about 300, to about 450. Stachys is in the subfamily Lamioideae and its type species is Stachys sylvatica. The precise extent of the genus and its relationship to other genera in the subfamily are poorly known.
Yerba Buena Gardens is the name for two blocks of public parks located between Third and Fourth, Mission and Folsom Streets in the South of Market (SoMA) neighbourhood of San Francisco, California. The first block bordered by Mission and Howard Streets was opened on October 11, 1993. The second block, between Howard and Folsom Streets, was opened in 1998, with a dedication to Martin Luther King Jr. by Mayor Willie Brown. A pedestrian bridge over Howard Street connects the two blocks, sitting on top of part of the Moscone Center convention center. The Yerba Buena Gardens were planned and built as the final centerpiece of the Yerba Buena Redevelopment Area which includes the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Yerba Buena Gardens Conservancy operates the property on behalf of the City and County of San Francisco.
Monardella is a genus of approximately 40 species of annual and perennial plants native to western North America from British Columbia to northwestern Mexico. They are grown for their highly aromatic foliage, which in some species is used for herbal teas. The two-lipped, tubular flowers are formed in terminal clusters and are most usually red, pink, or purple.
Clinopodium is a genus of flowering plants in the family Lamiaceae, in the subtribe Menthinae. Clinopodium belongs to a large and complex group of genera including many New World mints such as Cunila, Monarda, and Pycnanthemum, and this group is in turn a sister clade to Mentha. The genus name Clinopodium is derived from the Latin clinopodion, from the Ancient Greek κλινοπόδιον (klinopódion), from κλίνη (klínē) "bed" and πόδιον (pódion) "little foot". These were names for Clinopodium vulgare. They allude to the form of the calyx.
Micromeria is a genus of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae, widespread across Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America, with a center of diversity in the Mediterranean region and the Canary Islands. It is sometimes placed within the genus Satureja. The name is derived from the Greek words μῑκρος (mīkros), meaning "small," and μερίς (meris), meaning "portion," referring to the leaves and flowers. Common names include savory and whitweed.
Monardella villosa is a plant in the mint family which is known by the common name coyote mint. In 2020, it was included in Monardella odoratissima. As of April 2024, acceptance of the inclusion varies.
Yerba Buena was the name of an anchorage spot and later a town that grew into the city of San Francisco, California. The settlement was founded in 1834 and was located near the northeastern end of the San Francisco Peninsula, on the shores of Yerba Buena Cove. Yerba Buena was the first civilian pueblo in San Francisco, which had previously only had indigenous, missionary, and military settlements, and was originally intended as a trading post for ships visiting San Francisco Bay. The settlement was arranged in the Spanish style around a plaza that remains as the present day Portsmouth Square. The area that was the Yerba Buena settlement is now in the Financial District and Chinatown neighborhoods of San Francisco.
Clinopodium chilense, synonyms including Satureja gilliesii, is a plant in the family Lamiaceae. C. chilense is endemic to central Chile. It is found in the La Campana National Park area, in association with the endangered Chilean wine palm, Jubaea chilensis.
Stachys chamissonis is a species of flowering plant in the mint family known by the common name coastal hedgenettle. It is a perennial herb native to the west coast of North America, where it grows in moist coastal habitat from Alaska to central California. This mint produces an erect stem 1 to 2+1⁄2 meters. It is hairy, glandular, and aromatic. The oppositely arranged leaves have pointed, wavy-edged blades up to 18 centimeters (7.1 in) long which are borne on petioles. The hairy, glandular inflorescence is made up of interrupted clusters of up to six flowers each. The flower has a deep pink tubular corolla which can be over 3 centimeters (1.2 in) long. The corollas are borne in hairy calyces of purple or purple-tinged sepals.
Yerba buena or hierba buena is the Spanish name for a number of aromatic plants, most of which belong to the mint family. Yerba buena translates as "good herb". The specific plant species regarded as yerba buena varies from region to region, depending on what grows wild in the surrounding landscape, or which species is customarily grown in local gardens. Perhaps the most common variation of this plant is spearmint. The term has been used to cover a number of aromatic true mints and mint relatives of the genera Clinopodium, Satureja or Micromeria. All plants so named are associated with medicinal properties, and some have culinary value as herbal teas or seasonings as well.
Mentheae is the largest tribe of plants in the family Lamiaceae. It includes herbs such as sage, hyssop, mint, bee balm and thyme.
Nepetoideae is a subfamily of plants in the family Lamiaceae.
The scientific name Satureja gilliesii has been used for two different species of plants:
Clinopodium gilliesii is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae, native from southern Peru through Bolivia to northern Chile and northern Argentina. It was first described by George Bentham in 1891 as Micromeria gilliesii.
Micromeria glomerata, known locally as cliffthyme or thyme of Taganana, is a species of plant with woody chameleophyte flowers, belonging to the Lamiaceae family. It is a species endemic to the northeast of the Canary Island of Tenerife, whose description was first made in 1974, thanks to botanist Pedro Luis Pérez de Paz. It is a medicinal and aromatic plant with pink-purple flowers that grows at low altitude in the crevices of the slopes of the protected area of the Anaga Rural Park, located in the massif of the same name. The flexible, puberulose stem and with internodes can reach 10 to 40 centimeters in height. On the other hand, the leaves are small and flat, 8 mm long by 6 mm wide.11
[En está parage] y cerca la laguna hay hierba buena y muchos lirios, de modo que hasta dentro mi tienda los tenia.[Here and near the lake there are yerba buena and so many lilies that I had them almost inside my tent.] (Spanish original) (English translation)