| Eriodictyon | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Eriodictyon californicum | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Boraginales |
| Family: | Boraginaceae |
| Subfamily: | Hydrophylloideae |
| Genus: | Eriodictyon Benth. |
| Species | |
see text | |
Eriodictyon is a genus of plants known by the common name yerba santa within the Hydrophylloideae subfamily of the borage family, Boraginaceae. They are distributed throughout the southwestern United States and Mexico.
Most species grow as either perennial herbs or shrubs. They grow in a prostrate to ascending or erect stance. The stems are characterized by shredding barking. The leaves are cauline and alternate. The infloresence is generally open and terminal. The corolla is funnel to urn shaped, and white, lavender or purple, and generally hairy on the abaxial surface. The sexual organs of the plant, including the stamens, filaments, and ovaries, are also generally hairy. [1] The fruits are 1 to 3 mm wide. The fruits are schizocarpic, and not all mericarpids are fertile. [2] The seeds are striated, and colored a dark brown or black.
It includes California yerba santa (Eriodictyon californica), along with other similarly named plants. Yerba santa means "sacred herb" in the Spanish language. The name Eriodictyon, from the Greek erio + dictyon refers to the wooly surface of the abaxial leaves. [1]
There are 11 species native to the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. 6 species are used by indigenous peoples. [2]
Eriodictyon californicum is a species of plant within the family Boraginaceae. It is also known as yerba santa, mountain balm, bear's weed, gum bush, gum plant, and consumptive weed. Less common names include Herbe des Montagnes, Herbe à Ourse, Herbe Sacrée, Herbe Sainte, Hierba Santa, Holy Herb, and Tarweed.
Eriodictyon trichocalyx is a species of flowering plant in the borage family known by the common name hairy yerba santa.
The monotypic genus Anemopsis has only one species, Anemopsis californica, with the common names yerba mansa or lizard tail.
Eriodictyon angustifolium, common name narrowleaf yerba santa, is a perennial shrub.
Eriodictyon crassifolium, or thickleaf yerba santa, is a shrub in the borage family. "Crassifolium" means "thick leaf." The plant has thick, wooly leaves. It is native to California and Baja California.
Eriodictyon capitatum, the Lompoc yerba santa, is a rare evergreen shrub in the borage family. It is endemic to western Santa Barbara County, in California.
Quercus dumosa is a species of plant in the family Fagaceae, belonging to the white oak section of the oak genus (Quercus). This tree goes by the common names coastal sage scrub oak and Nuttall's scrub oak.
Eriodictyon tomentosum is a species of flowering plant in the borage family known by the common name woolly yerba santa. It is endemic to California, where it grows on the slopes of the central coast ranges.
Helianthus ciliaris is a species of sunflower known by the common names Texas blueweed and yerba parda.
Chaetopappa ericoides is a species of flowering plant in the daisy family known by the common names rose heath and heath-leaved chaetopappa. It is native to the southwestern and western Great Plains regions of the United States, plus northern Mexico. It is found in California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Sonora, Durango, Zacatecas, San Luis Potosí, and Nuevo León.
Symphyotrichum ascendens is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common names western aster and long-leaved aster. Blooming July–September, it is native to western North America and can be found at elevations of 500–3,200 meters in several habitats.
Euphorbia micromera is a species of flowering plant in the family Euphorbiaceae. It is known by the common name Sonoran sandmat. It is native to the southwestern United States from California to Texas, and northern Mexico, where it grows in sandy soils in desert and other dry habitat. It is an annual herb forming a small mat of slender stems. The hairy to hairless leaves are oblong in shape and just a few millimeters long. The tiny inflorescence is a cyathium less than a millimeter wide. It lacks the appendages that many similar species have in their cyathia. It has only a central female flower and 2 to 5 male flowers surrounded by round red nectar glands. The fruit is a minute round capsule.
Ribes lobbii is a shrubby, deciduous, shade-intolerant perennial dicot found on the western coast of North America. It was first described in 1876 by Asa Gray. The specific epithet was a dedication to the English plant collector William Lobb.
Hymenoxys hoopesii is a species of flowering plant in the daisy family known by the common names owl's claws, orange sneezeweed, and yerba del lobo. It is native to the western United States, where it grows in habitats of moderate elevation, such as mountain meadows in the Rocky Mountains, Sierra Nevada, southern Cascades, and other ranges. It has been found from Arizona, New Mexico, and central California north as far as Montana and Oregon.
Eriodictyon parryi or poodle-dog bush is a tall California mountain shrub with showy purple flowers, which is notable for secreting a severe skin irritant. It is an opportunistic species that grows mostly in areas that have been disturbed by fire.
Eriodictyon lobbii is a species of flowering plant in the borage family known by the common names Lobb's fiddleleaf and matted yerba santa. It is native to the Sierra Nevada and southern Cascade Range chain in California and adjacent sections of Nevada and Oregon. It grows in high mountain habitat in dry areas on slopes and ridges.
Pholisma arenarium is a species of flowering plant in the borage family known by several common names, including desert Christmas tree, scaly-stemmed sand plant, and purple sand food. As the name implies, the loaf-like part of the root is edible. It is native to northwestern Mexico, Arizona and southern California, where it grows in many habitat types, including desert, chaparral, and sandy coastal dunes. It is a fleshy perennial herb taking a compact cylindrical or ovate shape up to 20 or 30 centimeters tall above ground, often with part of the stem below the sandy surface. It is a parasitic plant growing on the roots or of various shrubs such as burrobush, Yerba Santa, California croton, rabbitbrush, and ragweeds. As a heterotroph which derives its nutrients from other plants, it lacks chlorophyll and is brownish-gray or whitish in color. There are hairy, glandular, pointed leaves along the surface of the plant. Flowers emerge between them, each roughly one centimeter wide, the rounded corolla lavender to deep or bright purple with a white margin.
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.
Tetraneuris acaulis is a North American species of flowering plants in the sunflower family. Common names include angelita daisy, stemless four-nerve daisy, stemless hymenoxys, butte marigold, and stemless rubberweed.
Eriodictyon sessilifolium, known by the common names Baja California yerba santa, sessile-leaved yerba santa or sessileleaf yerba santa is a perennial shrub in the Boraginaceae family, near-endemic to Baja California but also rarely found in the southern California, in a locality near Poway.
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