Common Name: Root Beer Plant, Hoja Santa, or Mexican Pepperleaf
Botanical Name: Piper Auritum
Blooms: Has a rat-tail like cylindrical green spike with
white-green sessile flowers
Foliage: Evergreen in tropics; freezes back here but
comes back each year
Height: Up 10 feet
Width: 3 feet +
Light: Partial Shade to full shade
Water: Needs regular irrigation to produce the most luxuriant foliage
Propagation: Root division (underground rhizomes) or seed
Note: A herbaceous perennial native to Mexico; cold hardy in USDA zones 10-11; root hardy in zones 8-9. Use in a tropical landscape. Very large heart shaped leaves. Some consider it invasive. Most portions of the plant smells strongly of root beer; utilize leaves for root beer flavoring in various dishes or use as wrap for meats and fish.
Botanical Name: Piper Auritum
Blooms: Has a rat-tail like cylindrical green spike with
white-green sessile flowers
Foliage: Evergreen in tropics; freezes back here but
comes back each year
Height: Up 10 feet
Width: 3 feet +
Light: Partial Shade to full shade
Water: Needs regular irrigation to produce the most luxuriant foliage
Propagation: Root division (underground rhizomes) or seed
Note: A herbaceous perennial native to Mexico; cold hardy in USDA zones 10-11; root hardy in zones 8-9. Use in a tropical landscape. Very large heart shaped leaves. Some consider it invasive. Most portions of the plant smells strongly of root beer; utilize leaves for root beer flavoring in various dishes or use as wrap for meats and fish.