Pineappleweed

Pineappleweed (a.k.a. mayweed) makes a pleasant tasting tea any time of day. It is especially useful as a sleep aid at bedtime. The tea is a relaxing, calming drink safe enough to help babies go to sleep. Shoshoni cradleboards had special ties along the sides for small bundles of this sweet smelling herb.  Called Nuwa nadega (Indian perfume) by Shoshonis, it was braided into women’s hair and generally used as a fragrance.

A poultice of this herb pulls up foreign materials like splinters and metal fragments from under the skin.

Today, Chamomile, a close European relative, botanically and chemically, is widely used as a pleasant relaxing tea (Sleepy Time Tea’s primary ingredient).

Pineappleweed grows in the most heavily trodden ground, where other plants are absent such as parking lots, cracks in sidewalks, and horse trails, hence another Indian name “under the horses hoof”.

Side note: like any plant in the sunflower family (Asteraceae) some people may be allergic to it.

In this second video, John Mionczynski shows pineappleweed in the field. This tiny plant is related to its European counterpart German chamomile and commonly used as a relaxing tea.