A Glorious Whorl In Time: what's growing in the Dragoons

first, some history:
just north of Toombstone, the famous mountain range, Dragoons, juts out rocky cliff faces, peering boulders, and chimney spires. a rock climbers go-to in these parts, although anyone can scramble across, around, and above.
this section named the Cochise Stronghold, a major historical event spanning nearly 15 years of Apache Indian Chief's, Cochise, rebel against the US Army. a perfect fortress, Cochise and his tribe of 1000, 250 being warriors, successfully warded off repeated attempted attacks by white men, including dozens of stage coach massacres, from the towering pinnacles from which point the entire valley below can be seen. an epic event in history favoring native indians of this land, Cochise died peacefully in his fortress, and buried in what is now known as the Chiricahua Rerservation.

from these views, everything is left behind...worries, concerns, stress...it's so magnificent that nothing else matters.

onward to what's growing...

...the lovely, sweet smelling, intoxicating, aromatically rejuvinating...

SWEET EVERLASTING, rabbit tobacco, Gnaphalium obtusifolium

consisting of a chemical called "tepenes" which, as a smoke aid (the dried, silvery leaf parts), helps to release phlegm in the chest and lungs and soothes coughs, pretty much instantly (and combined with mullein and horehound, the perfect cold remedy). a major medicine for viral infections, it has an incredibly potent affect on killing cases of influenza, pneumonia, and fevers, as well as certain cancers. old folklore claims that the juice can be used as an aphrodisiac, while others claim it to have the opposite affect.

sometimes called LIFE EVERLASTING, the name is due to it's lively appearance when in a dried, stagnant state after it's blooming season.

as a side note, i must say that it is also in the Asteracea family, for which i named my sweet precious golden love dog, Aster.

i hit a gold mine of this plant in the Dragoons...fields of golden grasses laden with white Everlasting!!!

i couldn't contain my excitement...i was in picking heaven.

HOREHOUND, Marrubio, Marrubium Vulgare (mint family)

"a distinctive, common, easily rememberred memeber of the min family, horehound's most distinguishing features are the white, woolly, square stems, the downy oval and crenelated leaves, and the sagelike puffs of spiny flowers at the top of the stems" (michael moore's medicinal plants of the mountain west).

when the name horehound is mentioned, the first thing that comes to mind is "throat lozenge". until the evil FDA got a hold of the medicinal properties of horehound, it was a prominent ingredient in most cold care remedies. but, as we all know the FDA is in our best interest, so they deemed it medicinally null, and so it was taken out of all store bought medicines, though herbalist and scientists the whole world around still acknowledge it's beneficial properties. so, just to put this so called theory to rest, horehound contains these chemical compounds...

* Flavonoids - an antioxidant

* Diterpenes - antimicrobial, antiinflammatory

* Saponins - agent used to expel immune toxins (can also be toxic in certain cases, so it is debatable, although still widely used as so). also used as a foaming agent in soap !

* Alkaloids - a stimulant

according to michael moore, and he doesn't exactly know why, only wildcrafted horehound works. maybe it's due to the way commercially grown horehound is cultivated that strips it of it's medicinal properties? no one yet knows. but, if wildcrafted, tea is the most common usage. because of it's incredibly bitter, acrid taste, lots of honey and lemon is necessary.

also, used as ale in europe!!