Hello Everyone. I am new here, I hope I break no rules posting my question! I was in Vietnam recently and came across an aromatic plant that reminded me of my childhood... Once every 3 or 4 years we would drive up from Florida to Missouri to visit my grandparents. Immeadiately upon getting out of the car at our destination (Malden) I was struct with a very sweet sent... I ran from plant to plant to try and identify the source of this wonderfull smell but was never able find where it was comming from. Years later, about 6 months ago, I discovered this aroma in a plant being sold in a Vietnamese resturant. I am now very intent upon identifying this plant and its aromatic principals. I have only one small living specimen I am trying to propagate. I have created a blog dedicated to this plant that gives the history of my involement with it to date. If anyone has access to a flora of Vietnam, (P. HO?), or thinks they can help figure this one out, please have a look. Once I figure out how to use this site, I will post pictures and descriptions here directly as well, if that is appropriate. The URL for my blog is http://sweetleaf.eponym.com/blog (I have temporarially dubbed the plant leaf SWEET LEAF, for its unusual aroma) The blog takes some time to get into, if it bores you, please jump to the more discriptive sections, "Sweet Leaf: Looking into the Mirror... What do you see?" and the 1 photo I have uploaded so far, "6/14/2006 Sweet Leaf (slightly wilted)" Briefly, for those who might know this plant but are unlikely to surf over to my blog site, I will briefly describe the plant here. "Sweet Leaf" is known as a local speciality of south Vietnam, it very much resembles Basil (but has round stems, not square, maintains a strong powerful aroma when dry and when alive, it is NOT always aromatic, but has its quiet days) and it seems to form roots at the nodes very easily. Thanks for reading this far! Any advice on proagation and identification would be invaluable. Earthling
Oh, I should have mentioned, the order of my blog entries appears most recent first, so to read through them coherently, one should start with the oldest at the bottom and go up. (I will try to fix this!) Sorry. Earthling
If you were to post a picture of this mystery plant, I think you'd have a much better chance of ID. Are you saying that this plant is the same one as the one from your childhood in Missouri? Or are you saying that it smells similar?
I thought I had posted a picture, perhaps it was just on the plants blog. But OK I will post it here. No, I do not think it is the same plant, that is, I never saw the Missouri plant. just enjoyed its smell. So you are right, I belive the smells are the same... and the aromatics are probably the same or very similar. It is a unique smell and I have (curiously!) begun smelling it near my house wher I live now... very weak and still untraceable so far... it seems to be comming from a neighbors yard, but I do not know them and it is, well kind of difficult to go "smelling around" their house as you can surely imagine.... Anyway, it seems all hope is now lost as the plant formed a brown spot on its main stem just below the first growths and collapsed overnight. I dont know tissue culture technique so I guess it is over for this little one. I will include a few specimen pictures in case anyone wants to take a shot at guessing what family it belongs to etc.... Since with the loss of this little plant, my last living specimen has been lost so I will now try to get some more plants. I will continue both this thread here and the plants blog (http://sweetleaf.eponym.com/blog) as soon as I obtain more information. Earthling
