Everything about Yerba Buena totally explained
Yerba buena (
Clinopodium douglasii) is a sprawling aromatic herb of western and northwestern
North America, ranging from maritime
Alaska southwards to
Baja California Sur. The plant takes the form of a sprawling, mat-forming perennial, and is especially abundant close to the coast.
Name
The plant's mostly common name, the same in English and Spanish, is an alternate form of the
Spanish hierba buena (meaning "good herb"). The name was bestowed by pioneer
Catholic priests of
Alta California as they settled an area where the plant is native. It was so abundant there that its name was also applied to the settler's town adjacent to
Mission San Francisco de Asís. In 1846
Yerba Buena was seized by the United States during the
Mexican-American War and its name was changed to
San Francisco after the nearby mission in 1847. Three years later the town's name was applied to a nearby rocky island; today millions of commuters drive through the tunnel on
Yerba Buena Island that connects the spans of the
San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.
Other plants known as Yerba buena
In general in Latin America, the term "yerba buena" refers to the particular local species of mint, which varies from region to region. The term has been (and is currently) used by persons of Mexican origin to cover a number of aromatic
true mints and mint relatives of the
genera Satureja or
Clinopodium. All plants so named have medicinal properties, and some have culinary value as teas or seasonings as well.
The specific plant species regarded as "yerba buena" varies from region to region depending on what grows wild in the surrounding landscape or which species is customarily grown in local gardens, but perhaps the most common plant so called (besides
Clinopodium douglasii) is
spearmint,
Mentha spicata.
In parts of Central America the term often refers to
Mentha citrata, a true mint sometimes called "bergamot mint" with a strong citrus-like aroma that's used as both medicinally and as a cooking herb and tea. In Cuba, yerba buena generally refers to
Mentha nemorosa, a popular plant also known as large apple mint, foxtail mint, hairy mint, woolly mint or, simply, Cuban mint. In
Puerto Rico a close relative of traditional culinary
savory,
Satureja viminea, is sometimes used. In
Peru the name is sometimes applied to a shrubby aromatic marigold,
Tagetes minuta also known as
huacatay or "black mint"; in this case, despite some similarities of flavor, the herb in question is in the
Sunflower family and is quite unrelated to any of the mints or mint-relatives with which it shares a name.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Yerba Buena'.
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