Navajo Tea aka Cota Thelesperma megapotacium Compositae or Asteraceae Family The taste of the plant makes Cota

one of our very best wild teas Medicinal Use: A mild diuretic, useful in water retention and urethra irritations. Cota is mildly antiseptic to the urinary tract. Not a strong remedy, it can be useful because of its lovely taste. It makes a cooling summer ice tea, with some Spearmint and piloncillo (Mexican cone sugar). Like Spearmint, it is a good tea for convalescence, also useful for indigestion and mild fever. For the inverterate tea drinker, Cota can be positively addicting; along with Poleo and Mormon Tea, it is one of our three best native teas, a reddish beverage with distinctive aroma and flavor. It is a traditional beverage of many Spanish New Mexicans, as well as a widely used folk remedy for arthritis, kidney, and blood complaints. It is used with malva ( Malva neglecta) as a skin wash for diaper rash and thrush. Among the Pueblo Indians its use is ancient; Cota twigs were even found with pottery shards in Chaco Canyon and in medicine bundles at Mesa Verde. Other Use: It makes a yellow, reddish-brown, orange, or blah beige dye, depending on the plant part and mordant used. Preperation: Moore, M. (2003). Cota. In Moore, M. (Revised and Expanded Ed.). Medicinal Plants of the Mountain West (pp. 79-80). Santa Fe, NM: Museum of New Mexico Press.