Native Plants

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Thursday - July 12, 2012

From: Coral Gables, FL
Region: Southeast
Topic: Herbs/Forbs, Shrubs, Vines
Title: Plants that smell like chocolate from Coral Gables FL
Answered by: Barbara Medford

QUESTION:

I am looking for plants that smell like chocolate. I live in south Florida. We are currently growing and testing Berlandiera lyrata. Do you know of other plants whose flowers smell like chocolate?

ANSWER:

There turned out to be quite a list of these. We just searched the Internet on "plants that smell like chocolate." Two are native to North America and you can follow the links to our webpages on them. The rest are non-native, and we can't even vouch for whether starts of them can be obtained or if they will survive in Florida.

Native to North America:

Calycanthus floridus (Eastern sweetshrub). From About.com Carolina Allspice - Calycanthus floridus .

Berlandiera lyrata (Chocolate daisy).

Non-native to North America:

From About.com Akenabia Quinata, Chocolate Vine. Also from Invasives.org Akenabia quinata. This plant originated in China, Japan and Korea. Several sources named it as extremely invasive, which you don't want going on in Florida.

From OMG Facts Cosmos atrosanguinus. SFGate Chocolate Cosmos: An Inedible Flower. Native to Mexico and possibly extinct in its home habitat.

AllExperts Calla Lily

University of California Master Gardeners Some Plants for the Chocolate Theme Garden

Chocolate Flower Farm

From the Image Gallery

Eastern sweetshrub
Calycanthus floridus

Chocolate daisy
Berlandiera lyrata