| Galium odoratum | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Gentianales |
| Family: | Rubiaceae |
| Genus: | Galium |
| Species: | G. odoratum |
| Binomial name | |
| Galium odoratum | |
| Synonyms [2] | |
| |
Galium odoratum, the sweet woodruff [1] or sweetscented bedstraw, [3] is a flowering perennial plant in the family Rubiaceae, native to much of Europe. It is widely cultivated for its flowers and its sweet-smelling foliage.
A herbaceous plant, it grows to 25–50 cm (10–19+1⁄2 in) long, [4] often lying flat on the ground or supported by other plants. The leaves are simple, lanceolate, glabrous, 2–5 cm (3⁄4–2 in) long, and borne in whorls of 6–9. The small (4–7 mm diameter) flowers are produced in cymes, each white with four petals joined together at the base. The fruits are 2–4 mm diameter, produced singly, and each is covered in tiny hooked bristles which help disperse them by sticking temporarily to clothing and animal fur. [5] [6]
It owes its sweet smell to the presence of the compound coumarin.[ citation needed ]
The plant is native to much of Europe [4] from Spain and Ireland to Russia, as well as Western Siberia, Turkey, Iran, the Caucasus, [2] China and Japan. [7] It is also sparingly naturalised in scattered locations in the United States and Canada. [8]
This plant prefers partial to full shade in moist, rich soils. In dry summers it needs frequent watering. Propagation is by crown division, separation of the rooted stems, or digging up of the barely submerged perimeter stolons. It is ideal as a groundcover or border accent in woody, acidic gardens where other shade plants fail to thrive. In the Northeast United States, deer and chickens avoid eating it.[ citation needed ]
Industrial usage of the plant for sweets was prohibited in Germany in 1974, due to coumarin, the flavorant found in woodruff, being toxic to rats and mice in studies. It has however not been found to be harmful to humans, even in large doses, in which it follows a different metabolic pathway. [9] The flavour is still popular for sweets in Germany, but is achieved artificially with 6-methyl coumarin. Products targeted towards adults, such as alcoholic drinks, are still permitted to include coumarin, in limited quantities. [10]
It is widely cultivated for its flowers and its sweet-smelling foliage. [11] [12] [13]
As the epithet odoratum suggests, the plant is strongly scented, the sweet scent being derived from coumarin. This scent increases on wilting and then persists on drying, and the dried plant is used in potpourri and as a moth deterrent. It was, and partially is, used to flavour May wine (called Maibowle or Maitrank in German), sweet juice punch, syrup for beer (Berliner Weisse), brandy, jelly, jam, a soft drink (Tarhun, which is Georgian), ice cream, and herbal tea. [4] Also very popular are sweet woodruff flavoured jellies, with and without alcohol. [14] In Germany, where it is called Waldmeister, it was and to some extent still is also used to flavour sherbet powder, that features prominently in Günter Grass's novel The Tin Drum (1959).
Prunus laurocerasus, also known as cherry laurel, common laurel and sometimes English laurel in North America, is an evergreen species of cherry (Prunus), native to regions bordering the Black Sea in southwestern Asia and southeastern Europe, from Albania and Bulgaria east through Turkey to the Caucasus Mountains and northern Iran.
Kalmia is a genus of about ten species of evergreen shrubs from 0.2–5 m tall, in the family Ericaceae (heath). They are native to North America and Cuba. They grow in acidic soils, with different species in wet acid bog habitats and dry, sandy soils.
Hesperis matronalis is an herbaceous flowering plant species in the family Brassicaceae. It has numerous common names, including dame's rocket, damask-violet, dame's-violet, dames-wort, dame's gilliflower, night-scented gilliflower, queen's gilliflower, rogue's gilliflower, sweet rocket, and mother-of-the-evening.
May wine, also known as Maitrank, Maiwein, Maibowle and Waldmeisterbowle, is an aromatized wine popular in Germany, sometimes made into a punch. May wine is served in the spring, traditionally on the May Day holiday. The base is made by steeping the fragrant creeping herb sweet woodruff that grows in the forests of Northern Europe in a white German wine. It is the specialty of the town of Arlon, in the south of Belgium.
Coumarin or 2H-chromen-2-one is an aromatic organic chemical compound with formula C9H6O2. Its molecule can be described as a benzene molecule with two adjacent hydrogen atoms replaced by an unsaturated lactone ring −(CH)=(CH)−(C=O)−O−, forming a second six-membered heterocycle that shares two carbons with the benzene ring. It belongs to the benzopyrone chemical class and considered as a lactone.
Spathiphyllum is a genus of about 60 species of monocotyledonous flowering plants in the family Araceae, native to tropical regions of the Americas and southeastern Asia. Certain species of Spathiphyllum are commonly known as spath or peace lilies.
Myrrhis odorata, with common names cicely, sweet cicely, myrrh, garden myrrh, and sweet chervil, is a herbaceous perennial plant belonging to the celery family Apiaceae. It is the only species in the genus Myrrhis.
Syzygium cumini, commonly known as Malabar plum, Java plum, black plum, jamun, jaman, jambul, or jambolan, is an evergreen tropical tree in the flowering plant family Myrtaceae, and favored for its fruit, timber, and ornamental value. It is native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It can reach heights of up to 30 m (100 ft) and can live more than 100 years. A rapidly growing plant, it is considered an invasive species in many world regions.
Galium verum is a herbaceous perennial plant of the family Rubiaceae. It is widespread across most of Europe, North Africa, and temperate Asia from Palestine, Lebanon and Turkey to Japan and Kamchatka. It is naturalized in Tasmania, New Zealand, Canada, and the northern half of the United States.
Olea capensis, the black ironwood, is an African tree species in the olive family Oleaceae. It is widespread in sub-Saharan Africa: from the east in Somalia, Ethiopia and Sudan, south to the tip of South Africa, and west to Cameroon, Sierra Leone and the islands of the Gulf of Guinea, as well as Madagascar and the Comoros. It occurs in bush, littoral scrub and evergreen forest.
Pelargonium graveolens is a Pelargonium species native to the Cape Provinces and the Northern Provinces of South Africa, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. Common names include rose geranium, sweet scented geranium, old-fashioned rose geranium, and rose-scent geranium.
Anthoxanthum odoratum is a short-lived perennial grass, commonly known as sweet vernal grass, that is native to acidic grassland in Eurasia and northern Africa. It is grown as a lawn grass and a house plant, due to its sweet scent, and can also be found on unimproved pastures and meadows. The specific epithet odoratum is Latin for 'odorous'.
Galium triflorum is a herbaceous plant of the family Rubiaceae. It is widespread in northern Europe, eastern Asia, the Middle East and Indian subcontinent, and North America. The plant is considered a noxious weed in New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Massachusetts.
Galium boreale or northern bedstraw is a species of perennial flowering plant in the family Rubiaceae. It is widespread over the temperate and subarctic regions of Europe, Asia and North America including most of Canada and the northern United States.
Aucuba japonica, commonly called spotted laurel, Japanese laurel, Japanese aucuba or gold dust plant (U.S.), is a shrub native to rich forest soils of moist valleys, thickets, by streams and near shaded moist rocks in China, Korea, and Japan. This is the species of Aucuba commonly seen in gardens - often in variegated form. The leaves are opposite, broad lanceolate, 5–8 cm (2.0–3.1 in) long and 2–5 cm (0.79–1.97 in) wide. Aucuba japonica are dioecious. The flowers are small, 4–8 mm (0.16–0.31 in) diameter, each with four purplish-brown petals; they are produced in clusters of 10-30 in a loose cyme. The fruit is a red drupe approximately 1 cm (0.39 in) in diameter that is avoided by birds.
Coelia bella is a species of orchid native to Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, and Costa Rica. It produces trumpet-shaped flowers that are intensely fragrant, with a smell like marzipan. It flowers during the autumn.
Sarcococca confusa, the sweet box, is a species of flowering plant in the family Buxaceae, probably native to western China. It is an evergreen shrub growing to 2 m (7 ft) tall by 1 m (3 ft) broad, with glossy green ovate leaves and honey-scented white flowers in winter, followed by glossy black spherical fruits, 5 mm in diameter.
Diospyros whyteana is a small African tree of the ebony family. Bearing dark green, strikingly glossy leaves and creamy fragrant flowers, it is increasingly cultivated in Southern African gardens as an attractive and strong ornamental tree. It can attain a height of up to 6 m.
Götterspeise is the German name for a dessert made of gelatine or other gelling agent, sugar, flavourings and food colouring, it is similar or identical to jelly or jello and other gelatin desserts. Other German names include Wackelpudding or Wackelpeter ; green Götterspeise is also known as Froschsülze. Götterspeise is usually eaten with whipped cream or vanilla sauce. The best-known flavours are the following:
Prasophyllum odoratum, commonly known as the fragrant leek orchid, Rogers scented leek orchid or sweet leek orchid is a species of orchid endemic to south-eastern Australia. It has a single tubular leaf and up to fifty fragrant green and white flowers with reddish marks.
