Malotira

Friends bring me all sorts of strange herbs.

Like this one.

Malotira or Greek mountain tea.Pic: Malotira or Greek mountain tea. A year or two ago a student asked what this strange greek plant was. I had no idea, looked high and low, and still had no idea. Later she'd found out that it was malotira, latin name of Sideritis syriaca.

And last week a couple of friends wanted to show this strange Greek plant they had, as dried tea, just in case I knew what it was.

'course I knew, it was just a matter of finding the piece of paper where I'd written the name a year or so before.
And they'd brought a good pint or two of dried herb, for me, for my troubles. My friends are nice people.

Malotira is a Lamiaceae (mint family) plant. It's called "Greek mountain tea", and is used for coughs, fevers, urinary tract troubles, to lower blood pressure, and as a soothing evening tea.

It's tasty, too. Dunno how strong that "evening tea" bit is, though.

Oh, the joys of common names

Oh, the joys of common names ...

Thanks for that, Neith! As

Thanks for that, Neith! As you can see in the photo, the malotira I have is so fuzzy it's gray-green, with small yellow flowers.