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Persicaria odorata
Polygonaceae FAMILY

Persicaria odorata

Persicaria odorata

Edibility
3/5
Medicinal
0/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Cultivation Details

HabitPerennial
Growth—

Succeeds in tropical to warm temperate areas[1]. Light frost is probably tolerated[2]. Requires a moist soil, succeeding in shallow water[3]. Fertile soils with adequate soil moisture are essential for optimal production[2]. It grows best under partial shade, but full sunlight is tolerated if ample moisture is available[2]. The first harvest of the leaves can be taken when plants are nearly 2 months old; subsequent harvests are every 12 - 15 days in tropical areas[2].

Propagation

Seed - The plant is easily propagated by stem cuttings with 4 - 6 internodes (8 - 10 cm long) taken from the top of mature stems[2]. These are planted obliquely 5 - 6 cm apart with a row spacing of 10 - 15 cm in raised beds of light, well-manured soil and are watered well[2]. Under warm and humid conditions cuttings start rooting after 3 - 5 days and growing after about a week[2]. Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Persicaria+odorata>

Pollinators

Data unavailable

References

  1. [1]Dictionary of Economic Plants. — Uphof. J. C. Th. · Weinheim · 1959 · ISBN - ↩︎An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.
  2. [2]Plant Resources of Southeast Asia — http://proseanet.org/ ↩︎Lots of information on the uses of the plants of SE Asia.
  3. [3]Tropical Food Gardens — Norrington. L. · Bloomings Books (Melbourne) · 2001 · ISBN 1-876473-41-x ↩︎Excellent little book giving some basic information on a range of plants.
  4. [4]Cornucopia II — Facciola. S. · Kampong Publications, California. · 1998 · ISBN 0-9628087-2-5 ↩︎The second edition of an excellent guide to the edible uses of plants, though it does not give any details of cultivation etc.
  5. [5]Medicinal Plants of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. — Nguyen Van Duong · Mekong Printing; Vietnam (Printers) · 1993 · ISBN 0-9837303-1-2 ↩︎Published by the author, this is an excellent book on the medicinal attributes of plants growing in the area that used to be called Indo-China.
  6. [PFAF]Plants for a Future — pfaf.org ↩︎