What Is This Plant

[Pat]

I have this plant growing in my yard at the new house, can some one tell me what it is?

 

[gata montes]

I have this plant growing in my yard at the new house, can some one tell me what it is?

I'm not 100% sure Pat - but it looks to me very much like the invasive plant Perilla Frutescens otherwise known as The Beefsteak Plant - which although it belongs to the mint family does not smell like mint at all and instead is said to smell very much like raw meat when you crush or rub the leaves.

Although there doesn't appear to be any certainty as to what type of raw meat it should smell like - I think it would be safe to say - that if yours does smell like any kind of raw meat when you rub or crush the leaves - it is Perilla Fructescens that you have invading your garden.

 

[Pat]

Thanks gata montes, it is Perilla Frutescens, I looked it up as soon as I had a name to look for. It is a form of mint that does not smell at all like mint. The plant comes in several colors and has some medical benefits this article gives some information.

http://www.lifescript.com/health/ce...bal_medicine_articles/perilla_frutescens.aspx

I have the purple and the green in the yard.



Another color of the same plant I have always called this plant a colous.

 

[gata montes]

You're welcome Pat and am pleased that you were able to identify it as quickly as you did - although I do have to confess that it was the fact that you had both the green and purple leaved varieties in your yard that immediately made me think that your plant was in fact Perilla Frutescens

And yes there is a cultivated variety that is often mistaken for being Coleus called " Magilla Perilla " - which is very popular as it is far more compact and less invasive than the wild strain and particularly so as not only is it heat and cold tolerant but also very low maintenance too.

When you say that you often mistake this plant for Coleus - I thinking that you meaning this one

The cultivated variety - Magilla Perilla

Which as you can see looks almost identical to Coleus