Since this is such a cool group thats into S American herbs I want to share this. This is an herb that has NOT been exploited like ginseng, damiana,echinacea, etc by big corp j-offs that take advantage of the fact the FDA does not regulate herbs. So otherwise saying.. share this with friends not post on wikipedia.
yerba santa: you will have to find at a true naturopathic or herb supply as its not well known. It is a very NASTY bitter herb, but if you study aruvedan you will realize bitters are always the best. If you are experienceing an asthma attack. relax and put a tablespoon in a pot of water and get near boil. Yerba santa is a leaf. You dont boil leaves. Seeping is recommended but just wathcing the pot turning it down when bbubble start forming is good enough. The drink will be nasty bitter.. You can honey it up but holding your nose is best bet wiht gulps. As wiht all herbs, it wont act like an inhaler..if it did it would be regulated. within 20-30 minutes you will breath better then you EVER have. its like your lungs expanded! Its tough waitng but if you just concentrate on peace while you wait you will make it. I found this remedy 15 yrs ago fro the dragon herbarium in portland OR. they do have a website. they are reasonble on herbs other then kratom ($20/oz!!) there is no enthnogen properties to this, but if you cant breate it will sure nake your lungs ready for the biggest toke of spice you could imagine
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OT

This is excellent information, oldtripper. Thank you for sharing it!

Wow. This is great if it works. My girlfriend has asthma, so I'll see if she wants to test it.

Which 'Yerba Santa'? There are many.
Most commonly the name refers to various species of the Eriodictyon genus, but most or all of those are north american But those are lung medicine

I've grown Eriodictyon angustifloium (in semi-arid zone 7a) and the leaves were nice and resiny and seemed to be clearing of the lungs but I planted it too near a black walnut tree and after a few years it died off before getting big. I suspect Eriodictyon spp. are juglone intolerant.

Its true that the Eriodictyons are not exploited by big corporations very often, however that means they are harvested unsustainably from the wild in many instances. No one grows it commercially. The seeds can be bought.

I'm guessing it's Eriodictyon californicum because Wikipedia tells me it is used to treat asthma and the other entries under "Yerba Santa" are only used for culinary purposes.

i have asthma and trouble breathing sometimes thank you

I agree he probably meant E. californicum, as thats the one most typically wild harvested.
Other species are medicine too tho, the E. angustifolium I grew specifically for its help with breathing, got it from a medicinal seed dealer for that stated purpose. Eriodictyon trichocalyx is used in colds and athsma too. For an interesting cross section of uses of these plants do a search for Eriodictyon in the database Here

That database can be fun, seeing how different tribes used to use certain plants.

Please do report back if you have tried this. Many people, including myself, are interested to see how well this works.

i have to online and get some of this i have been searching a bit but not enough will look more into it tomorrow