Aloysia citrodora, lemon verbena, is a species of flowering plant in the verbenafamily Verbenaceae, native to South America. Other common names include lemon beebrush.[2] It was brought to Europe by the Spanish and the Portuguese in the 17th century and cultivated for its oil.[3]
Description
Lemon verbena is a perennialshrub or subshrub growing to 2–3 metres (7–10 ft) high. The 8-centimetre-long (3 in), glossy, pointed leaves are slightly rough to the touch and emit a strong lemon scent when bruised (hence the Latin specific epithetcitrodora—lemon-scented).[4]
Sprays of tiny purple or white flowers appear in late spring or early summer, although potted lemon verbenas may not flower. It is evergreen in tropical locations,[5] but is sensitive to cold, losing leaves at temperatures below 0 °C (32 °F), although the wood is hardy to −10 °C (14 °F).[citation needed] Pruning is recommended in spring to encourage a bushy form.[6] Due to its many culinary uses, it is widely listed and marketed as a plant for the herb garden.[citation needed]
Uses
Inca Kola soft drink, which is flavored with lemon verbena.[7]
Unofficial importations from Spanish America seldom fared well: when another French botanist Joseph Dombey landed his collections at Cadiz in 1785, the plants were impounded and left to rot in warehouses, while Dombey was refused permission even to have seeds planted. Among the bare handful of plants Dombey had assembled during eight years at Lima, lemon verbena survived.[citation needed] Gómez Ortega sent seeds and specimens of the plant to Charles Louis L'Héritier de Brutelle in Paris; L'Héritier published it as Verbena triphylla in his Stirpes Novae, published in December 1785 or January 1786.[2] From Paris John Sibthorp, professor of botany at Oxford, obtained the specimen that he introduced to British horticulture:[16] by 1797 lemon verbena was common in greenhouses around London, and its popularity as essential in a fragrant bouquet increased through the following century.[citation needed]
^"Lemon Verbena". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 21 May 2005. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
^ abcdBahramsoltani, Roodabeh; Rostamiasrabadi, Pourouchista; Shahpiri, Zahra; Marques, André M.; Rahimi, Roja; Farzaei, Mohammad Hosein (August 2018). "Aloysia citrodora Paláu (Lemon verbena): A review of phytochemistry and pharmacology". Journal of Ethnopharmacology. 222: 34–51. doi:10.1016/j.jep.2018.04.021. PMID29698776.
^Juan Armada and Alfredo Barra, "On Aloysia Palau (Verbenaceae)", Taxon41 (1992:88f), note a recently discovered anonymous six-page printed booklet, dated Madrid 1779, reporting the new species, which they assert is correctly Aloysia citrodora (Palau).
^"un nuevo génera de planta consagrado a la Princesa de Asturias nuestra señora" in the title of the anonymous booklet.