Huo Xiang

Pogostemon cablin, patchouli or Huo Xiang, is a bushy, perennial aromatic herb or subshrub in the Lamiaceae, growing 0.6 to 1 meter tall from a stout, often woody base. The stems are erect, square in cross-section, much branched and softly hairy. The opposite leaves are broadly ovate to elliptic, 4 to 10 cm long, with a coarsely crenate-serrate margin, a rounded to subcordate base and an acuminate tip; both surfaces are softly velvety-pubescent and dotted with sessile glands that release the characteristic earthy, musky-sweet aroma when bruised. The inflorescence is a dense, terminal or axillary spike-like raceme bearing whorls of small, two-lipped, pinkish-white to pale violet flowers with four protruding stamens; in cultivated plants flowering is sparse and often absent. Native to tropical Asia and now cultivated in India, Indonesia, China and the Philippines for its essential oil, the dried leafy shoots harvested before flowering are the medicinal Huo Xiang, used in Chinese medicine to dispel summer dampness and harmonize the Middle Burner.