DESCRIPTION:
Yerba Mansa (Anemopsis californica) grows in alkaline wetlands in New Mexico, Arizona, and California.
Its family, Saururaceae, has only one other member - the Lizard's Tail (Saururus cernuus), of Eastern and Midwestern wetlands.
Its bluish-tinged leaves resemble spinach but are thicker and heavier, and feel smooth and cool to the touch.
They become spotted with red and black in the fall, and often die back completely in winter.
The snow-white "flower" is actually a conical one-inch cluster of tiny yellow stamens and pistils hidden among white petal-like bracts (modified leaves).
Flowers bloom in spring or midsummer, and the dry, prickly reddish-brown seedpods remainn for several months.
Plants propagate freely by runners, each with one or more nodes bearing new leaves and roots.
Roots are long and cordlike, white and brittle when young, becoming corky and covered in brown bark as they age.
The most distinctive feature of this plant is its clean spicy fragrance that hangs in the air over growing plants and is released when the leaves are crushed.
The smell is a bit like a combination of wild ginger and eucalyptus, and several of the aromatic constituents in these plants are present in Yerba Mansa.

HABITAT:
Yerba Mansa is a halophyte - a plant that prefers salty, brackish, or alkaline environments.  It colonizes soils that are so full of salt, gypsum, and lime that few other plants can survive.  As the plants use soil alkalis and accumulate layers of dead leaves, they alter the soil chemistry.  The soil becomes neutralized and enriched in organic matter, making it more hospitable for seedlings of wetland shrubs.  Yerba Mansa responds favorably to the fires which are a natural part of its ecosystem.  The thick roots survive in the wet soil, and bare ground covered in alkaline wood ashes provides an ideal environment for the plant to spread very quickly.

MEDICINAL USE:
DISCLAIMER:  This information is based on personal experience.  It is not intended to diagnose or treat any illness, and is not a substitute for professional medical advice.  Do your own research.  Herbs are neither benign nor ineffective.  They are not used in the same way as prescription drugs and are not a substitute for them.

Native Americans probably introduced this plant to early Spanish settlers, who adopted it as a revered remedio with many medicinal and even magical uses.
Grown near the house, its presence was a source of "good medicine" and protective magic.
Among modern herbalists it is gaining importance for its usefulness and low potential for toxicity.  It has been compared to goldenseal, an herb with some of the same uses, but Yerba Mansa is safer and its chemistry is different.  Some of its many aromatics are present in the entire plant, and others are found only in the roots.  The plant is a mild anti-inflammatory, astringent (draws out excess fluid), mild diuretic, antiseptic, and anti-fungal.
EXTERNAL:  The cold leaf tea has a cooling anesthetic effect.  A soothing wash for blisters, insect bites, poison ivy, sunburn, and ringworm.
INTERNAL:  Traditionally used for colds and chronic lung problems, cystitis, stomachache, and many other conditions.  Commercially available as a root tincture, but if you grow your own, you can use it in the traditional way as a tea made from the fresh plant.  Like many herbal teas, it works best when used a couple of times a day over a few days, not every day.  The taste is spicy, numbing, and overwhelmingly medicinal....a refreshing comfort for some people, but an acquired taste for others.  Use 2-4 leaves per cup, or the entire plant, washed and chopped.  A small plant with young white roots will make about a quart of tea.
 
 

Yerba Mansa is a characteristic plant of CIENEGAS, the tiny spring-fed alkaline marshes of the Southwest. Here it grows in a small salt pan among snowy crystals of gypsum, halite, and other alkali minerals.

A cienega in winter.  Water is hidden under dead rushes (center right).

FIRE is a natural and essential part of the cienega ecosystem.  It keeps the water surface open and accessible to birds and animals. It burns mats of accumulated dead cattails, rushes, and grasses, releasing their stored nutrients to enrich the soil. Most of these plants have thick roots buried deep in the mud, and quickly send up new sprouts after a fire.

FIND A PLANT:  Sources include nurseries that specialize in Southwest native plants, local native plant societies, and people who use or teach native plant medicine.  If you collect from the wild, be sure that collecting is allowed in the area you have chosen, and take only a single plant.  Wet the soil first, and dig deeply but gently to get most of the roots intact without damaging adjacent plants.  Better yet, take a cutting.  It will grow just as fast, causes minimal damage to the plant, and you won't have to dig!  Look for a healthy runner with at least one node bearing a few young leaves and perhaps some tiny roots.  Keep it in a bucket of water until you can plant it.  If it stays in the bucket for a few days, you may see roots begin to sprout.

Several well-known native medicinal plants have become endangered through over-collecting, and many more are threatened by loss of habitat.
Like Yerba Mansa, all are "national treasures" with ecological and cultural importance as well as medicinal value.
Remember that parks, conservation areas, and other protected sites earn their status for many reasons, one of which is these plants!
Such places face many challenges and are not established or maintained without much struggle and opposition.  Don't be part of the problem!
By growing rare native medicinal plants, not harvesting them in the wild, you can help people appreciate their value in nature
and their beauty and usefulness in the garden.

PLANTING & WATERING:
Plant directly in the ground in a naturally wet area or in a small depression that is easy to water.  Some wind protection and partial shade from a tree or wall will keep the plants from drying out too fast.  Planting in a large plastic container (storage box, large flower pot, fountain vat etc.) will reduce water use,
constrain the size of the patch, and make it easier to dig the roots.  Bury the container to keep the soil at a normal temperature and protect the plastic.
Fill the container with ordinary desert soil mixed with a little composted wood mulch.  No other amendments are needed.  Do not use potting soil, acidifiers such as peat moss, or drainage aids such as pumice or vermiculite.  Leave 2-3 inches of space at the top of the container so you can flood it, and keep the cutting or leaf bases submerged until new growth appears.  If you plant in full sun in midsummer, for the first few weeks you may need to cover the container with shadecloth during the hottest hours to prevent scorching.  Your transplant will probably wilt or "shock", and leaves may die off.  Just keep it flooded with water and soon you will see new leaves and thin red runners.  By this time the soil should be kept damp, but the plants do not need to be submerged.  Eventually the plants will grow to fill the container or wet area.  The container in the photo was full within six months.  Once the entire soil surface is shaded with leaves, water use will drop, since less is lost to evaporation.  A patch that has reached this stage can be allowed to dry out completely before watering.  Water the plants if the leaves begin to wilt.  An established container-grown patch may need watering once a day in very hot dry weather, but only once a month or even less in winter.

HARVESTING:
Leaves and cuttings can be taken as soon as the plants are established and producing them.  Roots should be left to grow for at least a year (preferably longer) before transplanting or harvesting.  The plant pictured below is 18 months old - the roots are still smooth and white, and the ends break easily.  They are easily cut up for tea, but do not dry well.  Older plants develop woody, cordlike roots with brown bark.  These can be air-dried or made into a root tincture.

Art, photos, and text copyright 2005 by Lorena Babcock Moore.  Do not use without permission - this is a violation of copyright law.
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