Yerba Santa (Eriodictyon californicum): Traditional Uses & Safety

At a glance

Botanical name: Eriodictyon californicum
Family: Namaceae
Part used: Leaf
Taste: Bitter, Pungent
Temperature: Warm
Moisture: Dry

No pre-1900 source found for this reading.

Safety at a glance

In pregnancy

Insufficient data; avoid

While breastfeeding

Limited data; moderate use likely compatible during breastfeeding.

For children

Avoid therapeutic doses under 12

Cautions

Insufficient safety data overall; California native — limited pharmacological study

General contraindications

Insufficient safety data; avoid

Stewardship

Yerba Santa (Eriodictyon californicum) is native to western US; climate change and drought stress the wild population. Prefer cultivated where available. Stewardship: 'the holy herb' of California Spanish tradition — honor the indigenous and colonial herbal memory.

In the traditional record

Yerba Santa (Eriodictyon californicum) — used by the Chumash, Salinan, and other California indigenous peoples for respiratory and bronchial complaints; given the Spanish name "holy herb" (yerba santa) by Franciscan missionaries who learned its use, and later documented by the Eclectic physicians as a respiratory expectorant and tonic.

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Educational use

The Apothecary is educational and does not constitute medical advice. Nothing here is intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before changing what you take, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, taking medication, or managing a diagnosed condition.

On our sources

These entries draw on public-domain materia medica, most of it published before 1900, alongside a smaller number of modern reference works. Energetic qualities such as warming, cooling, drying and moistening are a traditional framework for describing how a plant behaves in the body, not a laboratory measurement. Where a period source states one, we cite it. Where none does, and for many North American herbs none exists, the value reflects modern herbal consensus rather than a historical text. When we cannot support a caution with real evidence, we say nothing rather than guess.