Plants Mexico

Laminiaceae

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Leonotis Nepetifolia:

Local names: Man Piabba (Barbados), Lion's tail (Virgin Islands), Bald bush (Jamaica).

Native of tropical Africa, and found throughout the tropics. It is often found at roadsides and overgrown pastures. It is a single stemmed, erect herbaceous annual, growing about 90 cm tall. The stem has four sides. The distinctive feature is the thistle-like inflorescence, which is often used in dried flower arrangements. The flowers are orange.

Medicinal Uses:

The leaves can be boiled as a tea for fevers or as a bath for prickly heat. In Barbados, it was used with other plants for worms and tuberculosis, in Trinidad, the tea was used for 'flu.

Leonotis leonurus which has come into southern California under the name of "lion's tail" also nicknamed 'dagga' (familiar term for cannabis sativa). From the leaves of this member of the mint family, a dark resinous exudate is extracted and smoked like tobacco or as a tobacco additive. The Hottentots are quite fond of it as a narcotic which produces a mild state of euphoria. It is also used for subcutaneous diseases such as leprosy. Europeans living in Transvaal area know the plant as 'drug lionsear' and use a decoction of the flowering tips in treating cardiac asthma and epilepsy.