Perilla frutescens

Common Name: perilla mint, beefsteakplant

Family: Lamiaceae

Common Synonyms: none

USDA Hardiness Zone: 2 to 11

Growth Habit: Upright forb or subshrub

Origin: Asia

FISC Category: -

FDACS Listed Noxious Weed: No

Introduction Date: Earliest Florida herbarium specimen from 1959

IFAS Assessment:

North: INVASIVE
Central: INVASIVE
South: INVASIVE

Marisa Williams, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Bugwood.org

Description

Upright forb or subshrub that grows to 0.3 to 1 m high. Stems are 4-sided and covered with short hairs. Leaves are simple, opposite, broadly ovate, and deeply serrate, often tinged with purple or red and aromatic when crushed, emitting an odor of cat urine. Lower leaf surfaces glandular. Small, nettle-like white to pink flowers are produced on a spikelike inflorescence in the late summer and fall.

Habitat

Prefers disturbed, moist habitats including roadsides, ditches and forest margins.

Comments

Commonly used in Asian cooking.

Control Methods

Manual: NA
Chemical: NA
Biological: NA

Control Notes

No specific recommendations available.

References

https://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/pubs/midatlantic/pefr.htm

http://www.invasive.org/browse/subinfo.cfm?sub=3413