Description

Chameleon plant

Often known as Houttuynia Cordata ‘Chameleon’ is a visually stunning herb for your garden. The Chameleon plant also has bright white flowers during the summer. The broad heart shaped leaves have a form of variegation with tinges of pinks, reds, yellows with different shades of green. As the weather becomes cooler, the leaves will change to a more vivid red.

The herb grows between 50 cm – 100 cm high with a spread of approximately 100 cm.

The Chameleon plant is best planted in a sunny position and protected from harsh cold winds. Ideal as part of an architectural planting scheme.

Grows best in moist to wet soils. It also happily lives partially submerged in water, similar to a person stood in water that is knee-deep. This makes it ideal for a sunny boggy patch in the garden. Often seen around the shallow ledge (2 cm deep) of a pond.

It is an unusual and beautiful looking herb. However, it is frequently used in Asia for adding flavour to certain dishes.

Used as a leaf vegetable or as a garnish throughout Asia, grilled with meats in Vietnam.

As suggested on Wikipedia, the flavour is described as ‘fishy’. We have tested the herb ourselves and our result was an ‘earthy fishy pond’ as an accurate description for flavour, also, only after crushing, the leaves can smell a little ‘fishy’ too.

Also, because we cannot cook Asian food, we are not able to give you any recipes or food suggestions for the Houttuynia Cordata ‘Chameleon’ herb. We will, however, welcome any recipes you may wish to supply. We will also publish these recipes on our website. Contact us to supply any recipes which include this herb.

To find more information about the herbal and food uses, please visit the plant Wikipedia page.