Yerba Santa grows wild on the dry, sun-baked slopes of California and the American West, often among the first plants to return to hillsides cleared by fire. Indigenous Californian peoples knew it long before Europeans arrived, using its resinous leaves for breath and ceremony. When Spanish missionaries saw its effects, they named it yerba santa, the 'holy herb,' and the name endured.

Yerba Santa (Eriodictyon californicum) is an aromatic evergreen shrub in the waterleaf family, native to California, Oregon, and northern Mexico. Its lance-shaped leaves are coated in a sticky resin rich in flavonoids, including eriodictyol, a compound first isolated from and named after this plant, along with fragrant volatile oils. Indigenous Californian peoples used the leaves for respiratory support and ceremony, and Spanish missionaries named it the 'holy herb.'

Spanish missionaries in California called it the 'holy herb,' blessing sprigs of it and carrying them as protection after watching Indigenous peoples heal with the plant., Among California tribes such as the Chumash and Pomo, the leaves were burned to purify a dwelling and guard it against sickness and unwelcome spirits., and Folk custom held that a leaf placed over a doorway or beneath a pillow would turn away nightmares and keep unwanted energy from crossing the threshold.

I clear the air around me and within me; I hold a steady boundary, I let old grief rise and leave on the smoke, and I keep my heart open to what is good.