Lantana-like flowers of Mexican oregano and highly textured foliage
This past May, I purchased a Mexican oregano plant (Lippia graveolens), which is in the lantana or Verbenaceae family. I planted it in a large container on the deck in full sun. It has thrived so much I have been able to harvest quite a bit of foliage for cooking. I love the flavor – much better than my other oregano, Origanum vulgare. The leaves do not have the strong peppery taste of Origanum vulgare but an almost sweet citrus oregano flavor which makes me think of lemon verbena (which is no surprise as lemon verbena used to be called Lippia citriodora). The essential oil of Lippia has the same carvacrol and thymol that is in the essential oil of Origanum vulgare. However, I have found that the fresh leaves are not as flavorful as dried, so I have been drying them first and then using them in the kitchen.
Plant when first purchased in May
My plant is about 3 feet tall. In southern states, it can grow to be a tall woody shrub. The lantana-like flowers are small and creamy white — like gold stud earrings compared to the flashy large orange and yellow lantana flowers. The large, elliptical green leaves are highly textured. This plant flowers throughout the summer, attracting bees and butterflies. I harvest leaves regardless of flowering and even end up with a few dried flowers. In fact, there may be a few small, dried flowers in commercial jars of Mexican oregano.
Native to south Texas, Mexico, and Central America, Mexican oregano is not winter hardy here. I will have to figure out how to overwinter it soon. If it does not overwinter, I will purchase another plant next year. Seeds are not available but plants can be found online. Many species in the Lippia genus are not propagated by seed because seeds have unreliable or low germination rates, requiring precise temperatures to break dormancy.
The leaves can be used to make tea or added to salsas, pozole or posole (Mexican style hominy soup), rajas, beans, herb butter, herb vinegar, chilis, moles, marinades, and chili con carne. It is used whenever you want to add an oregano like flavor. This herb is very popular in Tex-Mex cuisine.
This plant is called Mexican oregano because when the Spanish conquered Mexico in the 1500s, they could taste the similarities between this plant and the oregano they had at home. Oregano is not a specific species; it is considered a flavor attributed to the chemical compounds carvacrol and thymol with several minor compounds in varying proportions. There are at least 61 species and 17 genera belonging to six different botanical families known as oregano. Lippia graveolens has carvacrol and thymol so it is understandable that the Spaniards thought it was a type of oregano. Other “oreganos” are Jamaican oregano (Lippia micromera), Cuban oregano (Plectranthus amboinicus), rosemary mint (Poliomintha longiflora), Mexican oregano (Poliomintha bustamanta), mintleaf bergamot (Monarda fistulosa var. menthifolia), and oreganillo (Aloysia wrightii).
Mexican oregano plant in August
What we think of as oregano, or the pizza herb, is Origanum vulgare. There also is Greek oregano (O. vulgare subspecies hirtum), Turkish or Cretan oregano (O. onites), Italian oregano (Origanum x majoricum), dittany of Crete (O. dictamnus), and Syrian oregano or za’atar (O. syriacum). Some of these are more pungent than others depending on the amount of carvacrol, thymol, and other compounds. Sweet or knot marjoram (O. majorana) has such a low level of carvacrol it is sweeter and one of the few Origanum species that can be used in perfume. There also are many ornamental oreganos in the Origanum genus such as ‘Kent Beauty’ and ‘Kirigami’ which are not used as culinary herbs.
My Mexican oregano is a winner both as a culinary herb and a container plant. It is drought resistant, nothing has bothered it, it has bloomed all summer long attracting bees and butterflies, and it has provided me with several jars of a tasty oregano-like herb to use in the kitchen.
