In Southeast Asia this plant is often seen growing in the kitchen garden. The young leaves are harvested and used to flavor rice, iced tea, and hot tea. Chicken wrapped in the leaves takes on the aroma. Sweet desserts, such as ice cream or sherbet, take on the aroma as well as the green coloring from the leaves. Sometimes the leaves are folded into a rose shape (similar in appearance to our Palmetto Rose) or other shapes and hung inside the home or in vehicles as an air freshener and to repel insects, such as cockroaches. The plant prefers some shade and cannot tolerate temperatures below 30 degrees F. The plant is not a "houseplant," however, and must be treated with respect to overwinter indoors successfully.
This domesticated plant is believed to be sterile and must be vegetatively propagated.

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