
Aloysia citrodora
Verbenaceae
Aloysia citrodora, Lemon Verbena
Family: Verbenaceae
Genus: Aloysia
Delicate small white flowers. Highly fragrant lemon scented, narrow oval, rough textured, mid green leaves. Culinary; use in drinks, jams, jellies ,ice cream and cakes.
• Hardiness: H3 (1 to -5C)
• Type: Deciduous shrub
• Height: up to 3m
• Spread: up to 2.5m
Lemon Verbena can be seen at the herb farm in Jekka's Herbetum and is available to buy as herb plants.
• Soil type: Light Loam, Free Draining
• pH: Universal pH
• Habit: Bushy
• Flowering colour: White
• Flowering time: Summer
• Uses: Culinary & Medicinal (Read Jekka's Guide To Culinary Herbs and Jekka's Guide to Medicinal Herbs for more information)
• Attracts pollinators: No
• Container suitability: Yes
• UK native: No
• Caution: N/A
• Propagation: Cuttings
• Maintenance: (Read Jekka's Blogs on Early Spring, Late Spring and Autumn maintenance)
• Harvest: N/A
The lemon-scented leaves of lemon verbena have been used for centuries to relieve painful muscle spasms and to calm agitation and distress.
Other traditional uses include helping to lower a fever, relieve the symptoms of indigestion and to restore and stimulate a poor appetite.
Many cosmetic preparations also include lemon verbena where its fresh lemon scent is considered both refreshing and stimulating.

Caution: Lemon verbena should not be used in individuals with kidney disease.
Please note: The information provided here is for educational interest only and is not intended to be used to diagnose or treat significant health problems. Any serious or long-term health concerns should always be discussed with a healthcare professional.
See our blog for more information about the National Institute of Medical Herbalists
At Jekka’s we sell herbs in 1 Ltr and 2 Ltr pots. These are established and hardy herb plants that are grown following organic principals and to survive the UK climate. Please read Jekka's blog that contains her top steps to growing on your herbs.
There is also ‘Jekka’s Seasonal Tips’ series that covers growing and maintaining herbs in early spring, late spring, summer and autumn & winter. Together they form Jekka’s guide on how to grow herbs.
Our herbs are designed to be grown in containers or planted in the garden. Although some herbs will be quite happy indoors, most prefer being outside. Please see our indoor growing blog for more information.
If you require pots or compost, we have developed Jekka's Herb Kits, which includes Jekka's "Grow On" Kit. These kits contain all you need to grow on your herbs.
If you think your herbs need a little more attention we always recommend an environmentally friendly solution, and these are Jekka's top three:
- Maxicrop liquid seaweed: 'Feed on Fridays' as Jekka always says for all round good plant health.
- SB Invigorator: a safe and effective insecticide and fungicide to help control a wide range of pest species
- Epsom salts: the horticultural equivalent of what you put in your bath to top up magnesium and stop orange leaves.
For more information on growing herbs plants please see Jekkapedia, Jekka's blog or our FAQs page.
Happy Herbs!
One of our three core roots is that we are Environmentally Conscious and for the past 30 years all the herbs grown at Jekka’s have been raised following sustainable, environmentally friendly and organic approaches resulting in a remarkable biodiversity at the herb farm.
Our herb seeds are also untreated and can be used to grow organic herb plants.
You can read more about our sustainability approach to growing herbs in one of Jekka's Blogs or in Jekka's Guide to Climate Change.
Previous Next