PDR for Herbal Medicines

HERBAL MONOGRAPHS YEW/841

Yerba Santa

Eriodictyon californicum

TRADE NAMES

Yerba Santa Resin-Rich Leaf (available from numerous

manufacturers and as combination product)

DESCRIPTION

Medicinal Parts: The medicinal parts are the dried leaves.

Flower and Fruit: The flowers are tubular to funnel-shaped,

lavender or white and clustered at the top of the plant. The

calyx is ciliate. The fruit is a small, oval, grayish-brown seed

capsule containing shriveled, almost black seeds.

Leaves, Stem and Root: The plant is a 2.5 m high, sticky,

evergreen shrub, with woody rhizomes. The trunk is smooth

and usually branched near the ground. It is completely

covered in sticky resin. The leaves are up to 15 cm long and

about 2 cm broad. They are thick, coriaceous, glabrous,

greenish white, lanceolate and irregularly dentate at the

margins. The upper surface appears to be varnished with

resin, the lower surface is reticulate and tomentose.

Characteristics: The taste is balsamic and the odor, pleasant

and aromatic.

Habitat: The plant grows in California, Oregon and parts of

Mexico.

Production: Yerba Santa is the aerial part of Eriodictyon

californicum.

Other Names: Bear's Weed, Consumptive's Weed, Eriodic-

tyon, Gum Bush, Holy Herb, Mountain Balm, Sacred Herb,

Tarweed

ACTIONS AND PHARMACOLOGY

COMPOUNDS

Flavonoids: including eriodictyonin, eriodictyol, chrysoer-

iodictyol, xanthoeriodictyol

Resinous substances: made up of flavonone and flavone

aglycones

Volatile oil (very little)

Tannins

EFFECTS

Yerba Santa is mildly diuretic and masks bitter tastes.

INDICATIONS AND USAGE
Unproven Uses: The drug is used as a constituent of anti-
asthmatic treatments and application by brush (painted on) to
counteract bitter tastes.

PRECAUTIONS AND ADVERSE REACTIONS

Health risks or side effects following the proper administra-

tion of designated therapeutic dosages are not recorded.

DOSAGE

Mode of Administration: As an additive to mask bitter

flavors and for painting on as Tinctura Eriodictyonis.

How Supplied:

Liquid — 1:5

LITERATURE

Johnson ND, Biochem Syst Ecol 11:211. 1983.

Kern W, List PH, Horhammer L (Hrsg.), Hagers Handbuch der

Pharmazeutischen Praxis. 4. Aufl.. Bde 1-8, Springer Verlag

Berlin, Heidelberg. New York, 1969.

Liu YL, Ho DK, Cassady JM, Isolation of potential cancer

chemopreventive agents from Eriodictyon californicum. In: JNP

55(3):357-363. 1992.

Yew

Taxus baccata

DESCRIPTION

Medicinal Parts: The medicinal parts are the fresh leaves,

the branch twig tips, and the branches.

Flower and Fruit: The flowers are inconspicuous and

dioecious. The male florets appear in autumn in yellowish

catkins in the axils of the annual needle. The female florets,

with only 1 pistil, are on short pedicles, which have scale-

like high leaves. The hard, pea-sized, dark-brown seed is

surrounded by a crimson, pulpy, beaker-shaped, sweet and

edible aril.

Leaves, Stem and Root: The Yew may be a bush or small

tree approximately 17 m high with a trunk diameter of over 1

m. The trunk has red-brown bark. The numerous branches

are crowded and evergreen. The needles are 2 to 3 cm long,

arranged in double rows, soft and acute. They are glossy

dark green above, have a distinct midrib, and are lighter

green beneath, matte, with no resin.

Characteristics: Yew is poisonous.

Habitat: The plant is common in large areas of Europe as far

as Anatolia and Sicily.

Production: Yew leaves are the needles of Taxus baccata.

Other Names: Chinwood