Various Clinopodiumspecies are used as medicinal herbs. For example, C. macrostemum is used in Mexico as a tea under the name poleo or yerba de borracho to cure hangovers, stomach aches, and liver disease.
Taxonomy
Clinopodium has been defined very differently by different authors. Some have restricted it to as few as 13 species, all closely related to the type species, Clinopodium vulgare. In the latest revision of Lamiaceae, Clinopodium encompassed about 100 species, including those otherwise placed in the genera Acinos, Calamintha, Micromeria, Satureja, and Xenopoma.[5] This circumscription, called Clinopodiumsensu lato, was shown to be polyphyletic in 2004,[6] with additional information on the issue published in 2010. As currently defined, Clinopodium includes both a core clade of this genus that includes the type species and a sister clade that is a broad assemblage of New World species designated Clinopodium alongside species included in 22 other genera. This "Clinopodium complex" will need a systematic taxonomic and nomenclatural review before valid names can be designated.[7]
^"Genus Clinopodium L."Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture.
^"Clinopodium L."Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 2023. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
^Umberto Quattrocchi. 2000. CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names volume I, page 91. CRC Press: Boca Raton; New York; Washington,DC;, USA. London, UK. ISBN978-0-8493-2673-8 (set).
^Paul Victor Fournier. 1946. Les Quatre Flores de France, page 838. Paris: Lechevalier.
^Harley, RM; Atkins, S; Budantsev, AL; Cantino, PD; etc (2004). "Labiatae"(PDF). In Joachim W. Kadereit (ed.). Flowering Plants: Dicotyledons: Lamiales (except Acanthaceae including Avicenniaceae). The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants. Vol. 7. Berlin: Springer. pp. 167–275. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-18617-2_11. ISBN9783642186172.
^Trusty, Jennifer L.; Olmstead, Richard G.; Bogler, David J.; Santos-Guerra, Arnoldo; Francisco-Ortega, Javier (1 July 2004). "Using Molecular Data to Test a Biogeographic Connection of the Macaronesian Genus Bystropogon (Lamiaceae) to the New World: A Case of Conflicting Phylogenies". Systematic Botany. 29 (3): 702–715. doi:10.1600/0363644041744347.