Sweetscent (Pluchea odorata var. succulenta): A Lesser-Known Native Wildflower
Meet sweetscent, a charming member of the aster family that might just be the wildflower you never knew you needed to know about. While its scientific name, Pluchea odorata var. succulenta, might sound like a mouthful, this herbaceous plant has quietly made its home across much of eastern North America.
What Exactly Is Sweetscent?
Sweetscent is what botanists call a forb – essentially a soft-stemmed plant that lacks the woody tissue you’d find in shrubs or trees. Think of it as nature’s way of creating a plant that’s sturdy enough to thrive but flexible enough to bend with the wind. This particular variety can live as either an annual (completing its life cycle in one year) or a perennial (coming back year after year), giving it some impressive adaptability.
The plant carries some botanical baggage in the form of synonyms – you might occasionally see it listed as Pluchea purpurascens var. succulenta in older references, but don’t let that confuse you. It’s the same plant, just with different naming conventions from bygone botanical eras.
Where Does Sweetscent Call Home?
Here’s where things get interesting from a native gardening perspective. Sweetscent has a somewhat complex relationship with geography. It’s considered native to the lower 48 United States, but has also established itself as a non-native species in Canada, particularly Ontario, where it now reproduces on its own in the wild.
Within the United States, you’ll find sweetscent growing naturally across a impressive range of states, from the northeastern corners of Maine down to North Carolina, and stretching west into Illinois and Indiana. The full list includes Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Virginia.
Should You Plant Sweetscent in Your Garden?
This is where we hit a bit of a gardening puzzle. While sweetscent isn’t flagged as invasive or noxious, there’s limited specific information available about this particular variety’s behavior in cultivation. For native plant enthusiasts, this creates something of a dilemma – it’s native to much of its range, but we simply don’t know enough about its garden performance or ecological impact.
If you’re drawn to the idea of growing sweetscent, consider these factors:
- It’s truly native if you’re gardening within its natural range in the lower 48 states
- As a member of the aster family, it likely provides some value to pollinators and wildlife
- Its forb nature means it won’t dominate your landscape like a woody plant might
- The dual annual/perennial nature offers some flexibility in garden planning
Growing Conditions and Care
Unfortunately, specific growing information for Pluchea odorata var. succulenta is quite limited in available literature. This makes it challenging to provide definitive guidance on optimal conditions, care requirements, or propagation methods.
What we can infer from its wide geographical distribution is that sweetscent is likely quite adaptable to various conditions across different climate zones. However, without specific cultivation data, anyone interested in growing this variety would be venturing into somewhat experimental territory.
The Bottom Line
Sweetscent represents one of those interesting cases where a native plant exists in a sort of horticultural gray area. While it’s not problematic in terms of invasiveness, the lack of detailed growing information makes it a challenging choice for most home gardeners.
If you’re committed to native gardening and live within sweetscent’s natural range, you might consider seeking out more well-documented native alternatives from the aster family. Plants like New England aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae) or aromatic aster (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium) offer similar native credentials with much more available information about their cultivation and benefits.
Should you encounter sweetscent growing wild in its native range, take a moment to appreciate this quietly persistent member of our native flora – just don’t expect to find it at your local native plant sale anytime soon.
