Lamiaceae FAMILY

Elsholtzia fruticosa

Edibility

2/5

Medicinal

2/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Cultivation Details

HabitDeciduous Shrub

Growth—

Elsholtzia fruticosa is a very cold-hardy plant, able to tolerate temperatures down to around -25°c when fully dormant^[1]. Grows well on woodland margins^[1]. This species is a sub-shrub, the woody stems often dying back to the base in severe winters^[1]. The flowers are fragrant^[2].

Propagation

Seed - sow spring in a greenhouse or cold frame^[1]. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on in the greenhouse for at least their first winter. Plant them out into their permanent positions in late spring or early summer, after the last expected frosts. Division in spring. Cite as: Temperate Plants Database, Ken Fern. temperate.theferns.info. 2026-02-21. <temperate.theferns.info/plant/Elsholtzia+fruticosa>

Pollinators

Insects

References

[1]The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. — Huxley. A. · MacMillan Press · 1992 · ISBN 0-333-47494-5 ↩︎Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
[2]Flowers of India — http://www.flowersofindia.net/ ↩︎A wed site of native Indian plants, plus cultivated and naturalized species. It has good quality photos and terse details on more than 3,000 species and cultivars.
[3]Flora of China — Missouri Botanical Garden Press; St. Louis. · 1994 · http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/china/ ↩︎An excellent, comprehensive resource in 25 volumes. In addition to the botanical information the flora also gives basic information on habitat and some uses. An on-line version is also available.
[4]Plants and People of Nepal — Manandhar. N. P. · Timber Press. Oregon. · 2002 · ISBN 0-88192-527-6 ↩︎Excellent book, covering over 1,500 species of useful plants from Nepal together with information on the geography and peoples of Nepal. Good descriptions of the plants with terse notes on their uses.
[5]Elsholtzia: review of traditional uses, chemistry and pharmacology — Ai-Lin Liu, Simon M.Y. Lee, Yi-Tao Wang and Guan-Hua Du · 2007 ↩︎