Family:  Aster (Asteraceae)

Annual or overwintering annual, 60 to 120 days

(Cota, Hopi Tea, Greenthread)  Flowering plant to 16 inches tall, native to the American Southwest, the Great Plains and the Gulf States.  Thin, almost grasslike leaves typify this wayside weed that grows in full sun in dry, sandy, clay, and rocky soils.  Will tolerate elevation and alkalinity.  The herb is collected, dried, bundled and made into a smoky, delicious-tasting beverage.  It is also a dyeplant, producing colors ranging from yellow, to rust, to orange.  In a traditional setting (native american), the several species of greenthread are used interchangeably as tea herbs, being tasty, slightly diuretic and kind to the stomach.  Traditional use:  blood purification, antiinflammatory, similar in activity to the herb Bidens pilosula.  Sow seed in pots or directly in the garden in fall or spring.  Use a sandy mix, and cover sparingly, tamp securely, and keep evenly moist and in the light. Seed requires a short period of cold/moist conditions prior to germination.  Plant in cool soils of fall or early spring, or give 14 to 45 days cold, moist refrigeration, then sow in warm conditions.  Germination takes 3 to 4 weeks.   Seedlings look like grass.  Thin or transplant to 6 inches apart.

50 seeds/pkt, Certified organically grown