Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of various western North American evergreen shrubs of the genus Eriodictyon, having tubular white to purple flowers and narrow leaves used in herbal medicine.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Plants native to southwestern North America. Eriodictyon californicum or other species in the genus Eriodictyon, which have traditionally been used medicinally.
  • noun Hoja santa, a Central American plant with sweet-scented leaves used to flavor food, Piper auritum.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun viscid evergreen shrub of western United States with white to deep lilac flowers; the sticky aromatic leaves are used in treating bronchial and pulmonary illnesses

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Spanish : yerba, herb + santa, holy.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Spanish yerba + santa

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Examples

  • Every house in the Town of the Vines has its garden plot, corn and brown beans, and a row of peppers reddening in the sun, and in damp borders of the irrigating ditches clumps of yerba santa, horehound, catnip, and spikenard, wholesome herbs and curative, but if no peppers then nothing at all.

    The Little Town of the Grape Vines 1903

  • Every house in the town of the vines has its garden plot, corn and brown beans and a row of peppers reddening in the sun; and in damp borders of the irrigating ditches clumps of yerba santa, horehound, catnip, and spikenard, wholesome herbs and curative, but if no peppers then nothing at all.

    The Land of Little Rain 1903

  • lilies, manzanitas and madrone, and a few herbs cherished for medicinal value: yerba buena, yerba santa, yerba mansa, yerba de selva.

    SFGate: Top News Stories home@sfchronicle.com (Joe Eaton 2010

  • lilies, manzanitas and madrone, and a few herbs cherished for medicinal value: yerba buena, yerba santa, yerba mansa, yerba de selva.

    SFGate: Top News Stories home@sfchronicle.com (Joe Eaton 2010

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