Aztec sweet herb (Phyla dulcis) - live plant

• A live, rooted plant
• Sold as an ornamental and botanical collector's plant
• Packaging suited to live plants

Important: Phyla dulcis is not on the European list of novel foods. It therefore cannot be marketed or used as a food product in the European Union. We offer it solely as an ornamental and collector's plant, and we do not communicate any consumption use.

Phyla dulcis belongs to the Verbenaceae, the verbena family. It is a creeping, spreading plant with small oval, toothed leaves, which roots at the nodes and quickly forms a low mat.

Its almost continuous flowering during the warm season produces tiny white flowers grouped in small, upright conical spikes held above the foliage, much visited by pollinators.

It owes its fame to hernandulcin, a molecule isolated from its leaves in the 1980s, whose sweetening power, measured in the laboratory, is several hundred times greater than that of sucrose. This discovery concerns a molecule isolated and characterised in the laboratory, not the plant sold here.

An easy plant. Full sun or partial shade, free-draining soil, moderate watering. It grows quickly and spreads: it makes an excellent ground cover for rockeries, borders or trailing pots.

It does not tolerate hard frosts: in cold regions, grow it in a pot and bring it in frost-free for the winter. Light pruning keeps it dense.

Lippia dulcis or Phyla dulcis?
The same plant. Phyla dulcis is the currently accepted name, Lippia dulcis remains the name under which it circulates in the trade.

Is it hardy?
Not very. It tolerates light frosts but suffers beyond that: grow it in a pot in cold regions.

Does it spread a lot?
Yes, it spreads by runners and roots at every node. In open ground, plan to contain it.

Does it attract pollinators?
Very much so. Its long, continuous flowering is much visited by bees and small hymenopterans.

This plant is sold as an ornamental and botanical collector's plant. Also worth exploring: our rare plants.