Leonotis leonurus

Leonotis leonurus, also known as Lion's Tail or Lion's Ear, is a species of plant in the Leonotis genus and the Lamiaceae (mint) family native to southern Africa. There are about thirty species of plants from the family Lamiaceae in the genus Leonotis, but only one other, L. nepetifolia (Klip Dagga), shares the entheogenic properties of L. leonurus. The main difference between the species is that L. nepetifolia's flowers sprout from a round prickly ball.

Species of Leonotis are among the frequently-used herbal remedies to treat various bronchial illness and epilepsy. The essential oils of the leaf and flower of L. leonurus and L. ocymifolia growing in the Eastern Cape of South Africa were analysed by GC-MS. Major constituents of the L. leonurus oils were limonene (7.2-15.6%), (Z)-β-ocimene (7.5-10.8%), γ-terpinene (4.0-4.7%), β-caryophyllene (15.2-19.6%), α-humulene (4.6-6.5%) and germacrene D (18.9-20.0%), while the essential oils of L. ocymifolia had (Z)-β-ocimene (13.0-15.2%), nonanal (5.5%) β-caryophyllene (21.4-30.8%), α-humulene (9.1-11.6%), germacrene D (21.5-21.7%) and T-muurolol (4.6%) as the prominent compounds. The oils exhibited a broad spectrum antibacterial activity against Gram-positive (Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus cereus, Micrococcus kiristinae, Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis) and Gram-negative (Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Shigella sonnei) bacteria with MIC values ranging from 1.25-0.039 mg ml^-1

Newstar-Chem pharmaceutical company asserts possible applications: (poorly translated via their website.) "treated the menstruation which was irregular, the uterine hemorrhage and the dysmenorrhea etc; The animal experimentation also indicated that the product could the increase the peripheral vascular ,the coronary artery and the cardiac muscle nutrition, increased the hematic flux, improved the micro circulation, and had the antithrombus to form" (sic).

Lions Tail is smoked or made into a medicinal tea by the Hottentot tribe of South Africa. It is good for inducing a deep meditative sleep, calming, relaxing and enhancing dreaming.