page_title: Potpourri
section_title: Plants used
hierarchical_section_title: Potpourri / Plants used
caption_attribution_description: English: A dried rose.
context_page_description: Potpourri is a mixture of dried, naturally fragrant plant materials, used to provide a gentle natural scent, commonly in residential settings. It is often placed in a decorative bowl.
  The word "potpourri" comes into English from the French word pot-pourri. The French term has two connotations. It is the French name for a Spanish stew with a wide variety of ingredients called "olla podrida", a specialty of the town of Burgos. The word was taken and copied by the French military during the Napoleonic occupation of Burgos. The word pot in French has the same meaning as it does in English, while the word pourri means rotten.
context_section_description: There are many plant species that are used for potpourri. Researchers have identified 300 species from 95 families, including fungi and lichens. A few toxic ingredients have been found in fruits such as Strychnos nux-vomica, the strychnine tree. Naturally scented plants used in traditional potpourri include:
  allspice
  cedar wood shavings (toxic, a moth repellent)
  cinnamon bark and cassia bark (smells like cinnamon only less potent)
  cloves
  cypress wood shavings (toxic, another moth repellent)
  fennel seed
  incense-cedar wood shavings
  jasmine flowers and oil
  jujube flowers and blooms
  juniper wood shavings (toxic, a moth repellent)
  lavender leaves and flowers
  lemon balm leaves and flowers
  lemon peel
  marjoram leaves and flowers
  mignonette leaves and flowers
  mint leaves and flowers
  mugwort (toxic, adds a musky note to the mix, another moth repellent)
  orange peel
  pelargonium leaves from the scented varieties
  pinyon pine shavings and cones
  rose flowers, hips, or oil
  rosemary leaves and flowers
caption: A dried rose. Dried flowers are a common component of potpourris.
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