Poliomintha longiflora

Poliomintha longiflora is one of the several aromatic plants that go by the name Mexican oregano, and one of the prettiest, a small evergreen shrub that flowers for months and seasons the pot besides. Slender, aromatic leaves clothe a rounded bush two or three feet high, and from spring well into fall the branches carry long, tubular flowers in soft lavender and pink, a steady supply of nectar in the heat when little else blooms.

The naming here is honestly a bit tangled. The plant sold as Poliomintha longiflora may in truth be Poliomintha maderensis, and Mexican oregano is a common name shared with several unrelated plants, the commercial spice most often coming from Lippia graveolens. What is not in doubt is the kitchen use: the pungent leaves stand in for oregano in Mexican and Southwestern cooking, a little spicier than the Mediterranean herb. The genus name means gray mint, for the hoary, minty foliage, and longiflora marks the long tube of the flower.

A subshrub of the dry, rocky country of Coahuila and neighboring northern Mexico, this is a plant built for heat and sun and sharp drainage, thoroughly at home in a xeriscape. Credit for bringing the plant into the Texas nursery trade is shared and a little uncertain, given variously to the late Lynn Lowrey, the dean of Texas native-plant introduction, and to Casa Verde Growers of San Antonio; either way, the plant has become a Southwestern favorite.

Grow Poliomintha longiflora in full sun and fast-draining soil, hardy through USDA zones 8 to 10 and root-hardy a little colder, evergreen where winters are mild and returning from the base where they are not. Little water and less fuss suit the plant, and deer tend to pass it by. Use this one in a xeriscape or rock garden, a pollinator or herb bed, or a container on a hot terrace, where hummingbirds, bees, and butterflies will work the long lavender flowers and a few leaves can be picked for the pot.