Medicinal Monday - the Exotic Looking Pagoda Plant

Native to eastern North America including Connecticut, the Pagoda Plant is as beautiful as it is rare. Today, it can be found in many gardens as an ornamental plant. There was a time when it was more plentiful throughout Connecticut and New England when it was widely used by many Native American communities living in the Eastern Woodlands.

About Downy Wood-Mint or Pagoda Plant

Downy Wood-Mint is in the genus, Blephilia and its scientific name is Blephilia Ciliata. This plant, like most in the mint family, grows best in full sun to partial shade in good soil with good moisture conditions. It can be found in woods, thickets, fields, clearings, and on rural roadsides.  Its' root system forms clumps from short rhizomes and the plant spreads by the rhizomes and by self-seeding. The plant is erect and can grow up to three feet high on four-angled hairy unbranched stems. The leaves are more ovate-shaped near the base of the plant and more lance-shaped on the upper part of the stem. The leaves have forward-pointing teeth and fine hair on their underside and when crushed they have a slight minty fragrance, similar to peppermint. The flowers are tubular and vary in color from whitish to lavender with deeper colored lavender spots. They are arranged in whorls and are separated by a row of fringed brackets like round platforms or pagodas. There may be up to six or seven pagodas full of flowers per stem. This plant blooms from May through September.

Medicinal Uses

Downy Wood Mint is used as a ceremonial smudging herb by many Native American communities to drive away evil spirits when a person is dying. A tea is made from the leaves and drunk for coughs, colds, and chills. The Cherokee use a poultice of leaves to treat headaches. 

Did You Know...

The genus Blephilia is derived from the Greek blepharon meaning eyelid and cilia refers to the fine short marginal hairs that form something that looks like an eyelash. 

The species name Ciliata is from the Latin cilium which means eyelash.

Other names for this plant include the downy pagoda plant, Pagoda Plant, wood mint, monarda Ciliata, sunny wood mint, and Ohio horsemint.