Vanilla Leaf, Deer Foot

Pairs of low, slender stalks growing in patches. One stalk is the petiole, the other is a narrow stalk topped with a spike of small white...Read More flowers.

It's range is from British Columbia south through the coast ranges of northern California.

This plant is quite drought tolerant. Spring flowering with bottlebrush like flowers, the main interest in this plant are the leaves. Whe...Read Moren fresh the leaves are not fragrant. When picked and dried, then crushed, a sweet aroma is released. This is only advisable to do if you have a large clump. Otherwise one can quickly diminish the plant to the point of no return.

On the USDA's Plants Database web site, there is a note that it is also called "Sweet after death".

A native woodland groundcover, the dried leaves have a distinctive vanilla fragrance. Blooms May-June with white, mist-like flowers.