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Plant · P-916
Yerba Santa
Eriodictyon californicum
Yerba Santa is an aromatic evergreen shrub of dry sunny slopes in California and southern Oregon known since long before European contact as a treatment for coughs colds and respiratory complaints - the Spanish name means holy herb. Sticky resin-coated leaves are steeped for tea or chewed fresh and the plant resprouts vigorously from its spreading rhizomes after fire or cutting. It thrives on poor sandy well-drained ground with little summer water and struggles wherever soil stays heavy or wet.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun
- USDA zone
- USDA 7–10
- Soil
- Sand · Loam · Clay
- Moisture
- Dry · Well-Drained
Vertical layer
Shrub- Soil pH
- 7–8
- Plant type
- Evergreen Tree
- Mature height
- 7.5–10 ft
- Mature spread
- 6.6 ft
- Plant spacing
- 6–8 ft
- Root type
- Rhizome
- Spread pattern
- Root
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