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Days to maturity
Seasonal yields
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Plant · P-663
Papalo
Porophyllum ruderale
Papalo is a pungent, strongly scented leafy herb used the way cilantro is used, but through the hottest stretch of summer when cilantro has already bolted. The leaf is more assertive than cilantro, with notes some compare to arugula or rue, and is eaten raw or cooked in salads, stews and salsa; harvest is by pinching the growing tips, which keeps new leaf coming and delays flowering. It thrives on poor, stony or sandy free-draining ground in full sun and needs no coddling, but it seeds itself prolifically once it flowers, so an unmanaged patch will keep reappearing on its own the following year.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun
- USDA zone
- USDA 2–11
- Soil
- Sand · Loam
- Moisture
- Dry · Well-Drained · Moist
Vertical layer
Herbaceous- Soil pH
- 5.6–7.8
- Plant type
- Annual
- Mature height
- 0.7–3.3 ft
- Mature spread
- 24–36 in
- Plant spacing
- 24–36 in
- Root type
- Tap
- Spread pattern
- Seed
Keep exploring
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The deeper layer
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- Primary
- Locked ecological function
- Secondary
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- Byproduct
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Behind the record
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