YERBA BUENA (Micromdna Dougldsii, Benth.). Flowers 

 white or purplish, about j inch long, solitary on short stalks 

 in the axils of the leaves, which are roundish or ovate and 

 about an inch long. A low, creeping vine somewhat hairy, 

 the slender stems from 1 to 4 feet long, and the whole plant 

 pleasantly aromatic. Blooming in summer in woods of the 

 Coast Ranges and in damp, half-shaded ravines from Southern 

 California to British Columbia. 



Yerba Buena (literally "good herb") is Spanish for the gar- 

 den mint, but the name was also bestowed by the Californians 

 upon this charming odoriferous little vine, of which they made 

 a tea. This was used as a beverage, as a febrifuge, and as a 

 remedy for colic, the value having been learned from the In- 

 dians. Its prevalence at one time on the western borders of 

 San Francisco Bay gave name to the Spanish hamlet that 

 came into being there in the latter part of the 18th century. 

 This settlement continued to be called Yerba Buena until 

 1846, when the name was changed by the United States au- 

 thorities to San Francisco. Such was the flowery beginning of 

 the Pacific Coast metropolis. 



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