Houttuynia

The hard to spell Houttuynia, is a monotypic genus (containing only one species), which hails from eastern Asia, often growing in woods or damp places, including the margins of paddy fields. Heart-shaped, exceptionally scented foliage (not too everyone's taste), sometimes citrus or like coriander. It is used as a salad crop in China. Flowers are small, in a spike, but surrounded by bright white bracts. In damp or good soils it will spread quickly, so worth growing in a part of the garden where its easily contained, or in pots and troughs.

Doubled-forms excepted, the flowers of Houttuynia look as they should be attractive to insects, but in reality they seems to attract rather little apart from flies, partly perhaps as they tend to grow best in shady spots. A rather invasive species, steps should be taken to avoid its spread outside of gardens: remember, it can regrow from the tiniest fragment of rhizome!