N.M. researchers hope to cultivate 'calming herb'

This photo provided by Charles Martin shows a crop of yerba mansa at the demonstration plot at New Mexico State University's Sustainable Agriculture Science Center in Alcalde, N.M., on June 12, 2008. Though the herb is relatively unknown outside of the Southwest, experts in the industry say yerba mansa could become as popular as other medicinal herbs including goldenseal and Echinacea. Martin has made yerba mansa a viable agricultural crop for New Mexico\'s small farmers. (AP Photo/Courtesy of New Mexico State University\'s Sustainable Agriculture Science Center)

(AP) -- The plant has been described by local residents as magical, its qualities almost mythical. The native herb yerba mansa, translated from Spanish as the "calming herb," has been used for centuries throughout the Southwest by American Indians and Hispanics for ailments ranging from toothaches to sinus infections.