Haplopappus

Persistent, treatment-resistant muscle spasm or convulsive tendency where standard antispasmodics have failed, per older eclectic case reports

Traditional Mexican and Southwestern U.S. folk use for tetanus, historically given freely and reported to be well tolerated, always alongside modern emergency medical care

Overview. Haplopappus laricifolius, now classified as Ericameria laricifolia, is a small resinous, aromatic shrub with narrow needle-like leaves resembling larch, native to the desert Southwest of the United States and northern Mexico. It was known to Mexican and Spanish-speaking communities of the region as yerba del pasmo, an herb reserved for spasm and convulsive illness, and was picked up by nineteenth-century eclectic physicians who reported striking, if largely anecdotal, results in tetanus and other convulsive disorders. It has never entered mainstream modern herbal practice and remains almost entirely undocumented by contemporary pharmacological research.

Clinical Notes. This plant survives in the record mainly as a curiosity of eclectic medicine. Writers such as Webster described dramatic responses in tetanus and puerperal, hysterical, and epileptic convulsions, with the herb said to be given liberally and without apparent harm in regions where the folk tradition was strong.

LOCALITY. Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California and Northern Mexico. This may be closely related to damiana. We insert it here, that it may be kept before the minds of our readers until its properties are determined.