Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium — the silvery, sweet-smelling 'life everlasting' that elders steeped for colds, asthma, and nerves, smoked for the lungs, and stuffed in pillows for sleep. A cornerstone foraged medicine of the Black South.
Rabbit tobacco is profoundly woven into Black Southern life and the conjure/rootwork tradition — known by many names (life everlasting, sweet everlasting, cudweed) and carried in countless households as the all-purpose cold, breathing, and nerve remedy. Children learned it as the plant elders dried by the bundle and reached for first when sickness or sleeplessness came.
Rabbit tobacco is one of the most multipurpose herbs in the Southern Black materia medica. As a hot tea it was used for colds, flu, sore throat, and chest congestion (expectorant and antimicrobial flavonoids and oils). The dried leaf was smoked or burned and inhaled for asthma and sinus relief. As a calming tea or stuffed into a 'dream pillow,' it was used for nerves, restlessness, and sleep. Its persistent sweet scent and refusal to wilt gave it the name 'life everlasting.'
Gather and dry the whole silvery flowering plant. For colds and chest: steep a hot tea, sweeten with honey. For asthma/congestion: the dried leaf was traditionally smoked or its smoke inhaled (use caution — see warnings). For sleep and nerves: a warm bedtime tea, or dry leaves stuffed into a small pillow for the sweet, calming scent.
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