FlowerPotNursery Variegated Cuban Oregano P. amboinicus Variegata 4" Pot

Coleus amboinicus, synonym Plectranthus amboinicus, is a semi-succulent perennial plant in the family Lamiaceae with a pungent oregano-like flavor and odor. The origin of Coleus amboinicus is unknown, but it may be native to Africa, and possibly India. Coleus amboinicus is widely cultivated and naturalized elsewhere in the tropics where it is used as a spice and ornamental plant. Common names in English include Indian borage, country borage, French thyme, Indian mint, Mexican mint, Cuban oregano, soup mint, Spanish thyme. The species epithet, amboinicus refers to Ambon Island, in Indonesia, where it was apparently encountered and described by João de Loureiro (1717 – 1791). Ambon is one of the Maluku Islands of Indonesia.

A member of the mint family Lamiaceae, Coleus amboinicus grows up to 3.3 ft tall. The stem is fleshy, about 12–35 in, either with long rigid hairs hispidly villous or densely covered with soft, short and erect hairs tomentose. Old stems are smooth (glabrescent). Leaves are 2.0–2.8 in by 1.6–2.4 in, fleshy, undivided (simple), broad, egg/oval-shaped with a tapering tip (ovate). The margins are coarsely crenate to dentate-crenate except in the base. They are thickly studded with hairs (pubescent), with the lower surface possessing the most numerous glandular hairs, giving a frosted appearance. The petiole is 0.79–1.77 in. Flowers are on a short stem (shortly pedicelled), pale purplish, in dense 10-20 (or more) flowered dense whorls (cymes), at distant intervals, in a long slender spike-like raceme. Rachis 3.9–7.9 in, fleshy and pubescent. The bracts are broadly ovate, 1.2–1.6 in long, acute. The calyx is campanulate, 0.079–0.157 in long, hirsute and glandular, subequally 5-toothed, upper tooth broadly ovate-oblong, obtuse, abruptly acute, lateral and lower teeth acute. Corolla blue, curved and declinate, 0.31–0.47 in long, tube 0.12–0.16 in long. Trumpet-like widened; limb 2-lipped, upper lip short, erect, puberulent, lower lip long, concave. Filaments are fused below into a tube around the style. The seeds (nutlets) are smooth, pale-brown, roundish flattened, c. 0.028 by 0.020 in.

The aroma of the leaves can be described as a pungent combination of the aromas of oregano, thyme, and turpentine. The taste of the leaves is described as being similar to the one of oregano, but with a sharp mint-like flavor.

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