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Planting
Days to maturity
Seasonal yields
Sow indoors · Direct sow · Transplant outdoors
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Plant · P-615
Culantro
Eryngium foetidum
Culantro is a low, rosette-forming herb of the wet tropics with an aroma close to cilantro but several times more pungent, so a fraction of the quantity seasons a dish - fresh in sofrito, salsa, soups, curries and chutneys across the Caribbean, Latin America and southeast Asia. Unlike its relative, it actually wants shade: the deepest, most aromatic leaves come from plants grown under heavy shade, while full sun makes them small, pale and quick to bolt. It is frost-tender and killed outright by freezing, so it is grown as a warm-season annual or under cover wherever winters dip below freezing, persisting as a true perennial only where frost never reaches. Its flowers, left to open, draw beneficial insects, but only on plants allowed to bolt - which ends the leaf harvest, so shading it and cutting flower stalks as they rise is what keeps a planting productive.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Partial Sun · Shade
- USDA zone
- USDA 10–11
- Soil
- Sand · Loam · Clay
- Moisture
- Moist
Vertical layer
Herbaceous- Soil pH
- 6–7
- Plant type
- Biennial
- Mature height
- 24–35 in
- Mature spread
- 12 in
- Plant spacing
- 15–18 in
- Root type
- Tap
- Spread pattern
- Seed
Keep exploring
Similar plants
Discover more plants with shared forest layers or growing conditions.
Amaranth Greens
Amaranthus tricolor
Amaranth greens are one of the few leafy vegetables actually built for peak summer heat rather than one that just tolerates it - sown once…
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Arrowroot
Maranta arundinacea
Arrowroot's rhizome is ground into a fine, easily digested starch used to thicken soups, sauces and pastries without leaving any mealy flavor…
Herbaceous · USDA 10–12
Arugula
Eruca vesicaria
Arugula is the fastest food crop in the collection, germinating in about a day and giving a first harvest of strongly peppery leaves within…
Herbaceous · USDA 2–11
Basil
Ocimum basilicum
Basil is a fast-growing aromatic herb, perennial in the tropics but killed outright by frost, which is why it is grown as an annual almost…
Herbaceous · USDA 10–11
Black Cardamom
Amomum subulatum
Black cardamom is the large smoky cousin of true cardamom - the dark brown pods are crushed whole into rice, lentils, curries and…
Herbaceous · USDA 9–11
Blue Mistflower
Conoclinium coelestinum
Blue Mistflower is a fast-spreading herbaceous perennial that forms loose colonies from creeping rhizomes and self-sown seed. Flat-topped…
Herbaceous · USDA 5–10
The deeper layer
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- Primary
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- Secondary
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- Byproduct
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Behind the record
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