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Paederia lanuginosa
A woody, climbing or groundcover vine from warm, humid Asia whose leaves smell strongly of sulfur when bruised. It is grown mainly for its edible leaves and as a shade-loving climber, and it needs warmth and humidity to thrive.
Paederia lanuginosa is a species of climbing vine in the coffee family Rubiaceae, native to Southeast Asia and southern China. Common names include woolly sewervine, cheese leaf and skunkvine, due to the distinctive odour released when the plant is damaged. Closely related to a similarly odorous plant P. foetida, it is cultivated both for its medicinal uses and as a culinary herb throughout its native range.
Paederia lanuginosa is native to tropical and subtropical Southeast Asia, specifically Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar, in addition to Yunnan province of China, Bangladesh and Northeast India. It is also grown outside its native range in Europe, Australia and the Pacific islands.
In Vietnamese cuisine, the fresh raw leaves are eaten as a vegetable. Known as lá mơ lông or lá mơ tam thể in Vietnamese, the leaves are eaten with grilled, rich, oily or fermented foods such as nem chua, along with leaves of the cluster fig and Ming aralia. The leaves are believed to stimulate digestion when eaten with such foods. The leaves are also sautéed, lightly boiled or beaten with eggs to make omelettes. The taste and smell of the leaves have been likened to boiled eggs and Camembert cheese.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Paederia lanuginosa by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
