Yerba Santa Bundle

Yerba Santa is Eriodictyon californicum and related species, a resinous evergreen shrub of the borage family, native to the far western United States.

• Spanish missionaries in California named the plant yerba santa, the holy herb, after learning of its virtues from Indigenous peoples.
• Cunningham lists its folk names as Sacred Herb, Holy Herb, and Mountain Balm, a record of the reverence it has carried.
• Tradition recorded by Cunningham holds that yerba santa leaves worn around the neck were believed to offer protection from harm.