Rabbit Tobacco (ON HOLD)
Rabbit Tobacco (ON HOLD)
Rabbit Tobacco or Sweet Everlasting (Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium) is a sacred spiritual plant that traverses the border between the living and the dead. It is an annual which grows in full to partial sun in dry to wet draining soil, as in forest edges. Its stalks are covered in tiny silvery white hairs and adorned with thin toothed leaves that alternate and turn silvery in winter, but stand proud in death as if in living, thus its common name “Sweet Everlasting”. The flowers first emerge like padded urns of white cloth and open like many pointed stars as the autumn turns to winter. The flowers are fragrant with a sweetness of a woman’s hair in sunlight. The flowers once dry can retain their scent for years thereafter. This plant has many uses amongst different peoples across time. It is known for wound healing, smoking, decoctions for fever, increasing sweating in sweat lodge, anchoring spirits and sanity and allowing ghosts to traverse to death.
AT A GLANCE
Rabbit Tobacco is an annual native in he daisy family widespread across the continent used medicinally in manifold applications by several indigenous peoples including Cherokee, Lumbee, Chippewa, Yuchi, Meskwaki, Potawatami, Menomine, chocktaw, Creek, Alabama, and Cheyenne peoples (not exhuastive). This plant enjoys partial shade to full sun and grows in forest breaks and meadows where is is adaptive to poor, dry soil but tolerant of moist well drained soils.
BENEFITS
Like most native plants, Rabbit Tobacco is a host for pollinators. It would be remiss to neglect the more unique characteristics in the human realm. Rabbit Tobacco possesses a spectral beauty across seasons with its leaves and stems covered in tiny hairs that give the plant a silvery sheen. The flowers begin like the feet of rabbits, furry and plump cones of white that originate from the center like a star. As the flowers open and dry they retain a csrtyalline form in a starlike daisy. The entire plant emits a distinct smell that most like and few can forget. The plant’s other name “Sweet Everlastin” pertains here, as the flowers will retain their scent for decades. The scent is sweet like maple syrup or a child’s hair that smells like the sunlight. In winter, when other plants die, the Rabbit Tobacco remains everlasting, and stands silvery and erect, as if living dead. The plant is said to traverse the border between life and death itself. It has been applied in teas and poltices for fever and illness, and to harness a spirit. The plant can be smoked and is said by some to gift clairvoyancy, but not necessarily psychoactive.
CARE
You will receive a plant with several sets of leaves and stalks and root system of approximately 8 inches. Plant in partial shade or full sun and water upon planting and in following weeks water moderately if its not raining. This plant is tolerant of low water conditions. It is annual or biannual depending on season.
This plant pairs well with mistflower, goldenrod, milkweed, hyssopleafed boneset, and liatris.