Kingdom Plantae Family Lamiaceae Scientific name Clinopodium douglasii Rank Species | Order Lamiales Genus Clinopodium Higher classification Clinopodium | |
 | ||
Similar Clinopodium, Lamiaceae, Micromeria, Clinopodium brownei, Clinopodium douglasii | ||
Clinopodium douglasii, or yerba buena, is a rambling aromatic herb of western and northwestern North America, ranging from maritime Alaska southwards to California. The plant takes the form of a sprawling, mat-forming perennial, and is especially abundant close to the coast. The name "yerba buena" derives from Spanish for "good herb" and is applied to various other plants.
Molecular evidence places the species within the Clinopodium complex rather than Micromeria.
Name
The plant's most common name, "yerba buena", the same in English and Spanish, is an alternate form of the Spanish hierba buena (meaning "good herb"). The name was bestowed by Catholic missionaries of Alta California after native people indroduced them to it. 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, the town of Yerba Buena was seized by the United States during the Mexican–American War, and its name was changed in 1847 to San Francisco, after a nearby mission. Three years later, the 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. Yerba buena is also used as a common name for other plants with aromatic foliage.
