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sweetscent

Pluchea odorata ยท Asteraceae

sweetscent (Pluchea odorata)
Photo: (c) Dairon Cuevas Riveras, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) ยท CC BY-SA ยท via iNaturalist

sweetscent (Pluchea odorata) is a perennial herbaceous plant in the Asteraceae family. It is native to North America. USDA records it as hardy in zone 5 and warmer, down to about -13ยฐF.

At a glance

Typeforb-herb USDA
Lifecycleperennial USDA
Native statusnative USDA
Mature height4.9 ft USDA
Lightfull-sun USDA
Water needmedium USDA
Growth ratemoderate USDA
Soil pH4.5โ€“7 USDA
Flower colorPurple USDA
Hardiness zones5 and warmer USDA
Guild layernutrient Derived
Nursery availabilityRoutinely Available USDA

USDA quoted from the USDA PLANTS database ยท Derived computed by a fixed rule from those columns. No value on this page is estimated.

Growing conditions

It needs full sun. USDA rates it as having moderate water needs. It is recorded on soils from pH 4.5 to 7 โ€” a broad range that spans acidic through mildly alkaline ground. Its cold limit is zone 5; USDA publishes no warm-end limit, so gardeners in warmer zones should check local heat tolerance separately.

Size and growth

At maturity it reaches about 4.9 ft, making it a low to knee-height plant. It grows at a moderate rate, which matters when you are timing a planting around the layers above it.

Role in a guild

Nutrient layer. In a layered planting this is it contributes to soil fertility rather than to structure. We derive the layer from the plant's growth habit and mature height using a fixed rule, so the same inputs always produce the same layer.

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Tags

deciduousdrought-tolerantclay-tolerantnativenitrogen-fixerfull-sun

Where this data comes from

Every value on this page comes from the USDA PLANTS database record for symbol PLODO, or is computed from those values by a fixed rule. Nothing here is estimated or model-generated. Where USDA publishes no value, this page omits the claim rather than filling the gap.

Read our full data sources and methodology.

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