Many names for Thelesperma megapotamicum or T. gracile
Greenthread, Indian tea, Navajo tea, Hopi tea, cota (Spanish), ch’il ahwéhé (Diné), molanawe (Zuni) or ho hoysi (Hopi). It is likely that these names may also refer to various other species of greenthread, including T. subnudum, T. filifolium, and T. simplicifolium. The distinctive characteristic of T. megapotamicum is that is has rayless composite flowers. That is, it’s not too showy.
Overview – a grower’s perspective
Greenthread is a fine plant. A perennial, it sprouts from roots in the early spring, drinking from the deep moisture of the melted winter snows. It thrives in well-drained, sandy soils, on mesa tops and in canyons, at elevations ranging from 5,000 feet to 8,000 feet. It tolerates seasonal drought very well, making a vibrant show of its pale green threadlike stems in the driest spring. Monsoon rains in late summer encourage it to sprout again. It is said that the best tea is brewed from the freshest growth, just as the buds begin to open into yellow flowers. A light frost in the spring or fall has little effect on the plant. In the winter, however, it dies back to its root and waits for the next growing season.
Ethnobotanical information
The flavor of this tea is reason enough to drink it, though people I know use it to bolster the immune system, treat an upset stomach, and as a daily tonic. I, myself, drink volumes of it when I feel a sore throat coming on and it seems to keep it at bay.
According to Zoncho Tso’s research, a significant active compound is luteolin, a flavonoid, which you may research in the USDA’s Dr. Duke’s Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases.
Visit Zoncho Tso’s Bridges Project web site for the Navajo cultural information and summary research on our local Thelesperma.
Recently published and searchable on Google Books is Charles W. Kane’s Herbal Medicine of the American Southwest. Significantly, Kane has nothing to say about the plant’s chemistry in this book.
This distribution map is found on Michael Moore’s Southwest School of Botanical Medicine Web Site.
Plants for a Future provides some online information about the plant.
Query the Native American Ethnobotany Database at Univeristy of Michigan.
