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Botany

Woodruff is a rhizomatous herbaceous perennial plant that grows upright to 25-50 cm high. The leaves are lanceolate and borne in whorls of six to nine. The small flowers are white, with four petals joined together at the base. It prefers partial to full shade in moist, rich soils. Its native range runs from Spain and Ireland to Russia and includes Western Siberia, Turkey and Iran.

Scent

The scent of the plant increases on wilting and then persists on drying. The young leaves contain the glycoside melilotoside, and coumarin is liberated from it by enzymatic cleavage when the plant is damaged or withers. A pressed specimen of woodruff in a herbarium smells of coumarin for years. Dried woodruff contains about 0.25 % coumarin.

Coumarin

Coumarin belongs to the benzopyrone chemical class and is considered a lactone. Coumarin is a colorless crystalline solid with a bitter taste. It is found in many plants, where it may serve as a chemical defense against predators. The seeds of the tonka bean have a strong fragrance similar to that of sweet woodruff because of their high content of coumarin.

Uses

The dried plant is used in potpourri and as a moth deterrent. Woodruff was, and in part still is, used to flavour May wine (called Maibowle or Maitrank in German), sweet juice punch, brandy, jelly, jam, ice cream and herbal tea. In Germany, where it is called Waldmeister, it was and to some extent still is used to flavour sherbet powder. In the United States, sweet woodruff is allowed as a flavorant in alcoholic beverages only.

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