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yerba

(Science: botany) An herb; a plant.

This word is much used in compound names of plants in spanish; as, yerba buena [Sp, a good herb], a name applied in Spain to several kinds of mint (mentha sativa, viridis, etc), but in California universally applied to a common, sweet-scented labiate plant (Micromeria Douglasii). Yerba dol osa. [Sp, herb of the she-bear] A kind of buckthorn (rhamnus Californica). Yerba mansa. [Sp, a mild herb, soft herb] A plant (Anemopsis Californica) with a pungent, aromatic rootstock, used medicinally by the mexicans and the indians. Yerba reuma. [Cf. Sp. Reuma rheum, rheumatism] A low California undershrub (Frankenia grandifolia).

Origin: Sp.