Perilla, John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge

In Albums: nature plants herbs

Oct 10th, 2011, by Alex Zorach

This photo shows perilla growing wild in the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge, near the Philadelphia airport. Perilla is an herb used in Japanese cuisine (where it is called shiso) and other cultures as well, but it is not native to North America. It has escaped cultivation and naturalized, however, and it is sometimes considered invasive.

This photo shows a small naturalized population of this herb...the extent of it was not much larger than what is shown in this picture. I gathered some of these plants and dried them; you can see a picture of these dried perilla leaves as well.