Trichostema Lanatum
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''Trichostema lanatum'', also known as woolly bluecurls, is a small
evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has Leaf, foliage that remains green and functional throughout the year. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which lose their foliage completely during the winter or dry season. Consisting of many diffe ...
shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...
or
sub-shrub A subshrub (Latin ''suffrutex'') or undershrub is either a small shrub (e.g. prostrate shrubs) or a perennial that is largely herbaceous but slightly woody at the base (e.g. garden pink and florist's chrysanthemum). The term is often intercha ...
native to arid coastal
chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant plant community, community found primarily in California, southern Oregon, and northern Baja California. It is shaped by a Mediterranean climate (mild wet winters and hot dry summers) and infrequent, high-intens ...
regions of
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
down to the northern tip of
Baja California Baja California, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California, is a state in Mexico. It is the northwesternmost of the 32 federal entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1952, the area was known as the North Territory of B ...
,
Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
.


Description

''Trichostema lanatum'' is many-branched and grows to 1.5 m (5 ft) tall, with narrow, pointed green leaves. The smooth-petaled blue flowers are borne in dense clusters, with the stem and calyces covered in woolly hairs of blue, pink, or white. Flowers are present from March to June. Spanish explorers in California called the plant ''romero'', the
Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...
term for
rosemary ''Salvia rosmarinus'' (), commonly known as rosemary, is a shrub with fragrant, evergreen, needle-like leaves and white, pink, purple, or blue flowers. It is a member of the sage family, Lamiaceae. The species is native to the Mediterranean r ...
, and that common name is still sometimes used in Mexico.Rogers, D. (2001)
Romero or Woolly Blue Curls.
''Double Cone Quarterly''.


Uses

''Trichostema lanatum'' is cultivated as an
ornamental plant Ornamental plants or ''garden plants'' are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars th ...
, and several
cultivar A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...
s have been developed. It attracts
hummingbird Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the Family (biology), biological family Trochilidae. With approximately 366 species and 113 genus, genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but most species are found in Cen ...
s and
bumblebee A bumblebee (or bumble bee, bumble-bee, or humble-bee) is any of over 250 species in the genus ''Bombus'', part of Apidae, one of the bee families. This genus is the only Extant taxon, extant group in the tribe Bombini, though a few extinct r ...
s.Santa Monica Mountains Plant of the Month
Native Americans used it for a variety of medicinal and other purposes.Ethnobotany
/ref> Its leaves and flowers make a flavorful
tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of south-western China and nor ...
.


Indigenous medicinal use

''Trichostema lanatum'' was incorporated by the
Chumash Chumash may refer to: *Chumash (Judaism), a Hebrew word for the Pentateuch, used in Judaism *Chumash people, a Native American people of southern California *Chumashan languages, Indigenous languages of California See also

* Pentateuch (dis ...
to help facilitate the healing process of menstruation and birth, as well as a general disinfectant and treatment for rheumatism. When tested against an E.Coli ▵tolC mutant, the plant exhibited anti-bacterial properties. Studies have also shown anti-inflammatory properties against pro-inflammatory cytokine TNF-ɑ and anti-bacterial properties against macrophages and gram-postivie bacteria. This species and '' Trichostema lanceolatum,'' a related species, were both also used by other California Indigenous tribes in the form of tea or crushed leaves to treat a range of ailments including common olds, body aches, skin disorders, digestive problems, and malaria. The two species differ in smell, anatomy, and location found. Indigenous tribes used ''T. lanatum'' to treat the same ailments as ''T. lanceolatum''. Woolly bluecurls and other native plants have historically been used by Indigenous peoples in a holistic approach to medical care, which typically considers patient health and well-being at the intersection of biology, psychology, and culture, and manipulating the biochemical properties of native plants to treat the ailment. Future studies of woolly bluecurls and other plants used by Indigenous peoples for medicinal purposes will need to focus on the use of such plants in a broader cultural system of care. Such work can be challenging, given the historical, systematic erasure of Indigenous wisdom that has been a primary function of
settler colonialism Settler colonialism is a logic and structure of displacement by Settler, settlers, using colonial rule, over an environment for replacing it and its indigenous peoples with settlements and the society of the settlers. Settler colonialism is ...
.


References


External links


Jepson Manual Treatment — ''Trichostema lanatum''''Trichostema lanatum'' — U.C. Photo gallery
{{Taxonbar, from=Q7841025 lanatum Flora of California Flora of Baja California Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Natural history of the California Coast Ranges Natural history of the Peninsular Ranges Natural history of the Santa Monica Mountains Natural history of the Transverse Ranges Plants used in traditional Native American medicine Bird food plants Garden plants of North America Drought-tolerant plants Flora without expected TNC conservation status