On this day

In 1847 the town of Yerba Buena was renamed San Francisco. I didn't know that and I was in SF last year. I really must pay more attention to all those books we buy before going on holiday.

Yerba buena (Clinopodium douglasii) is a sprawling aromatic herb of western and northwestern North America, ranging from maritime Alaska southwards to Baja California Sur.[1] The plant takes the form of a sprawling, mat-forming perennial, and is especially abundant close to the coast.

The plant's common name, the same in English and Spanish, is an alternate form of the Spanish hierba buena (meaning "good herb"). The name was bestowed by pioneer Catholic priests of Alta California as they settled an area where the plant is native. It was so abundant there that its name was also applied to the settler's town adjacent to Mission San Francisco de Asís. In 1846 Yerba Buena was seized by the United States during the Mexican-American War and its name was changed to San Francisco after the nearby mission in 1847