Lemon Verbena

Aloysia citrodora

Origin: South America
Family: Verbenaceae
Part used: Leaves

Native to South America, this flowering shrub was brought to Europe by the Spanish and Portugese in the 17th century. It grows 2-3 metres tall and its 8cm long, glossy, pointed leaves are slightly rough to touch but emit a strong lemon scent when crushed. The delicate sprays of purple or white flowers appear in late spring and early summer. Used extensively in culinary dishes of fish, poultry, marinades, salad dressings and desserts.

Fragrance notes
The aroma is fresh and lemony with aromatic herbal nuances .

We use one forms of Lemon Verbena, harvested from our spray free garden

Lemon Verbena Leaves

Harvested in spring when the leaves contain the most aroma we infuse this directly into our cream for our Lemon Verbena Mojito bonbon. These leaves provide a beautiful lemony flavour while adding herbaceous notes to compliment the rum, peppermint and white chocolate in the bonbon.

Our Lemon Verbena Bonbon is in our Herb Garden collection, you can see the 16 box here and the 8 box here.

History
The first European botanist who publicly noticed this plant was the Frenchman Philibert Commerson, who collected it in Buenos Aires on his botanical circumnavigation with Bougainville in about 1767. The plant had already been imported directly into the Botanical gardens in Madrid, where in 1797 it was unofficially named Aloysia citriodora (in latin) and "Hierba de la Princesa" in Spanish, to compliment Maria Louisa of Parma, the wife of the Garden's patron, Infante Carlos de Borbon.

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