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Clinopodium douglasii

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Clinopodium douglasii
Group of plants
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Lamiales
Family: Lamiaceae
Genus: Clinopodium
Species:
C. douglasii
Binomial name
Clinopodium douglasii
(Benth.) Kuntze (1891)
Synonyms[1]
  • Thymus douglasii Benth.(basionym)
  • Thymus chamissonis Benth.
  • Micromeria douglasii Benth.
  • Micromeria barbata Fisch. & C.A.Mey.
  • Micromeria chamissonis (Benth.) Greene
  • Satureja douglasii (Benth.) Briq.
  • "Satureja chamissonis" (Benth.) Epling & Játiva (nom. inval.)
  • "Hesperothymus douglasii" (Benth) A. Doroszenko (nom. inval.)

Clinopodium douglasii, (synonym Micromeria douglasii),[1] yerba buena,[2] or Oregon tea[3] is a rambling aromatic herb of western and northwestern North America, ranging from British Columbia southwards to Southern California.[4] The plant takes the form of a sprawling, mat-forming perennial, and is especially abundant close to the coast.[5] The name "yerba buena" derives from Spanish for "good herb" and is applied to various other plants.

Description

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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.[2] The leaves and other parts of the plant are strongly aromatic and have a minty odor.

  • Leaves and flowers
    Leaves and flowers
  • Flower close-up
    Flower close-up

History

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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.[6][7][8] Later Spanish- and English-speaking settlers learned of the use of this plant from native peoples and incorporated it into their own folk medicine traditions.[9][10] Spanish missionaries gave the name yerba buena or hierba buena (good herb) to the plant,[9][11] 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.[11] 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.[12][13] "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.[14] These botanical specimens were eventually sent to George Bentham, a botanist specializing in the mint family, who published 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).[14][15]

Taxonomic status

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In 2010, molecular evidence placed the species within the Clinopodium complex rather than Micromeria.[16] As of November 2024, Plants of the World Online continued to place the species in the genus Micromeria,[1] though databases such as the Jepson Herbarium eFlora,[2] iNaturalist,[17] Calflora,[18] and the USDA PLANTS Database[19] place the species in Clinopodium.

Uses

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The Pomo people of Potter Valley northeast California infuse its leaves (called ma ca kau') for a kind of tea beverage.[20]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c "Micromeria douglasii Benth." Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 2023-05-16.
  2. ^ a b c Wetherwax, Margriet & Miller, John M. (2012). Clinopodium douglasii, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora. (Accessed 13 November, 2024.)
  3. ^ Oregon Flora: Clinopodium douglasii (Benth.) Kuntze
  4. ^ "PLANTS Profile for Clinopodium douglasii (yerba buena)". NRCS PLANTS database. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 2024-11-09.
  5. ^ Wood, Michael (2003-09-01). "Focus on Rarities, Yerba Buena Chapter, CNPS (Satureja douglasii)". CNPS Yerba Buena Chapter website. California Native Plant Society. Archived from the original on July 31, 2017. Retrieved 2007-12-19. Website structure requires navigation to the linked index page and then selection of the 'Yerba buena' article
  6. ^ Turner, Nancy J; Bell, Marcus AM (1971). "The ethnobotany of the Coast Salish Indians of Vancouver Island". Economic Botany. 25 (1): 63–104 (p. 84). ISSN 0013-0001. JSTOR 4253212.
  7. ^ Hedges, Ken; Beresford, Christina (1986). Santa Ysabel Ethnobotany. Ethnic Technology Notes (20). San Diego Museum of Man. p. 41. ISBN 9780937808429.
  8. ^ Moerman, Daniel E (1998). Native American Ethnobotany. Timber Press. p. 520. ISBN 9780881924534.
  9. ^ a b Weigand, James (2002). "Case study: California". In Weigand, James; Jones, Eric T; McLain, Rebecca J (eds.). Nontimber Forest Products in the United States. University Press of Kansas. pp. 81–86. ISBN 9780700632916. JSTOR jj.7941367.13.
  10. ^ Turner, Nancy J (2018). "Learning new medicines: Exchanging medicinal plant knowledge amongst Northwestern North American indigenous and settler communities". Medicina nei Secoli: Journal of History of Medicine and Medical Humanities. 30 (3): 949–976. ISSN 2531-7288.
  11. ^ a b Font, Pedro (1776-03-27). "Diario: Dia 27. [de Marzo.] Miercoles". Web De Anza: Diario ampliado del Padre Pedro Font. Center for Advanced Technology in Education, University of Oregon. Retrieved 2024-11-18. [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)
  12. ^ Eldredge, Zoeth Skinner (1916-03-16). "El Paraje de Yerba Buena". Municipal record. 9 (11). San Francisco, CA: 110–111.
  13. ^ Browning, Peter (1998). San Francisco/Yerba Buena: From the Beginning to the Gold Rush 1769-1849. Great West Books. ISBN 9780944220085. p. 141.
  14. ^ a b Beidleman, Richard G (2006). California's Frontier Naturalists. University of California Press. p. 48-53. ISBN 9780520230101.
  15. ^ Bentham, George (1831). "De plantis in expeditione speculatoria Romanzoffiana observatis. Labiatae". Linnaea. 6: 72–82. p. 72, 80.
  16. ^ Bräuchler, C, et al. Mol Phylogenet Evol. 2010 May;55(2):501-23 Molecular phylogeny of Menthinae (Lamiaceae, Nepetoideae, Mentheae) --Taxonomy, biogeography and conflicts
  17. ^ iNaturalist: Yerba Buena (Clinopodium douglasii)
  18. ^ Clinopodium douglasii (Benth.) Kuntze
  19. ^ United States Department of Agriculture PLANTS Database, Plant Profile: Clinopodium douglasii (Benth.) Kuntze
  20. ^ Welch, James R. (2013). Sprouting Valley: Historical Ethnobotany of the Northern Pomo from Potter Valley, California. Society of Ethnobiology. p. 63. ISBN 978-0-9887330-2-2.
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