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Eriodictyon californicum
| Eriodictyon californicum | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification  |
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| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Boraginales |
| Family: | Boraginaceae |
| Genus: | Eriodictyon |
| Species: | E. californicum |
| Binomial name | |
| Eriodictyon californicum (Hook. & Arn.) Torr. |
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| Synonyms | |
Eriodictyon californicum is a species of plant within the Boraginaceae family. It is also known as yerba santa, mountain balm, consumptive's weed and bear weed.[2]
Contents
Distribution[edit]
It is native to California and Oregon, where it grows in several types of habitats, including chaparral and Coast redwood forests.
Description[edit]
Eriodictyon californicum is a shrub growing one to three meters tall, typically found in clonal stands. The smaller branches and foliage are coated in a sticky resin and are often dusted with black fungi, Heterosporium californicum. The shrub is known to be an occasional source of nutrition for wildlife and livestock.[3] The narrow, long leaves are somewhat lance-shaped and up to 15 centimeters in length. They have an odor generally considered unpleasant and a bitter taste, making them unpalatable to most animals,[3] although it does have multiple insect herbivores. For example, it is the primary nectar source for Variable Checkerspot butterflies in the Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve in California.[4] The inflorescence is a cluster of bell-shaped white to purplish flowers, each between one and two centimeters in length.
Taxonomy[edit]
When first described, it was placed in genus Wigandia, so its basionym is Wigandia californica.[1]
Traditional medicine[edit]
The leaves have historically been used to treat asthma, upper respiratory infections and allergic rhinitis.[3] The Concow tribe calls the plant wä-sä-got’-ō (Konkow language)[5] The Chumash used it as a poultice for wounds, insect bites, broken bones, and sores. It was also used in a steam bath to treat hemorrhoids.[6]
Food use[edit]
Eriodictyol is one of the 4 flavanones identified in this plant by the Symrise Corporation as having taste-modifying properties, the other three being: homoeriodictyol, its sodium salt and sterubin.[7] These compounds have potential uses in food and pharmaceutical industry to mask bitter taste.
Environmental use[edit]
This species of shrub is used for revegetating damaged or disturbed lands, such as overgrazed rangeland.[3] It is, however, strongly fire-adapted, sprouting from rhizomes after wildfire and developing a waxy film of flammable resins on its foliage.[3]
Butterflies[edit]
Eriodictyon californicum is a specific Papilio eurymedon butterfly food and habitat plant.
References[edit]
- ^ a b Wigandia californica, the basionym for Eriodictyon californicum was first described and published in The Botany of Captain Beechey's Voyage 364, pl. 88. 1839. "Name - Wigandia californica Hook. & Arn.". Tropicos. Saint Louis, Missouri: Missouri Botanical Garden. Retrieved May 23, 2011.
Annotation: as 'Californica'
- ^ Patricia Kaminski and Richard Katz. Yerba Santa Eriodictyon californicum. Flower Essence Society.
- ^ a b c d e Forest Service Fire Ecology
- ^ Murphy, Dennis D., Marian S. Menninger, and Paul R. Ehrlich. "Nectar Source Distribution as a Determinant of Oviposition Host Species in Euphydryas Chalcedona." Oecologia 62.2 (1984): 269-71.
- ^ Chesnut, Victor King (1902). Plants used by the Indians of Mendocino County, California. Government Printing Office. p. 408. Retrieved 24 August 2012.
- ^ "Using Santa Barbara’s Yerba Santa to Treat Cold, Flu, and Cough". sbhealthandhealing.com. Retrieved 2012. Check date values in:
|access-date=(help) - ^ Ley, JP; Krammer, G; Reinders, G; Gatfield, IL; Bertram, HJ (2005). "Evaluation of bitter masking flavanones from Herba Santa (Eriodictyon californicum (H. And A.) Torr., Hydrophyllaceae)". Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 53 (15): 6061–6. PMID 16028996. doi:10.1021/jf0505170.
External links[edit]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Eriodictyon californicum. |
- Eriodictyon
- Flora of California
- Flora of Oregon
- Flora of the Cascade Range
- Flora of the Klamath Mountains
- Flora of the Sierra Nevada (U.S.)
- Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands
- Natural history of the California Coast Ranges
- Natural history of the Central Valley (California)
- Natural history of the San Francisco Bay Area
- Plants described in 1839
- Butterfly food plants
