THE CURRY-LEAF PLANT (Murraya Koenigii)

5 comments

I have grown Murraya in our conservatory for several years now; the first one I bought from a local herb specialist, after a few years it produced flowers and seeds, which I sowed, this produced so many seedlings, I kept a couple, and had the pleasure of giving a dozen back to the herb specialist nursery!

This “Curry leaf plant” should not be confused with, Helichrysum italicum, which smells like curry, but has virtually no flavour. Murrray’s leaves are used to flavour curry in their native India, where they grow as a small tree, about six feet high; in the UK they are best grown in a conservatory, or even on a sunny windowsill; they make a very attractive house-plant, and, of course, can be used to flavour your curry.

I when first grew them in all-purpose compost, they looked pale and yellowish, not at all healthy; I re-potted
them into Citrus Compost (which I use for my lemon tree) and feed them with citrus feed: they are now looking the best ever – see photographs

In a warm summer (like 2014) they are more likely to flower and set seed; you will see in the photograph, a seed-pod, looking like a black olive, this is likely to have
2 or 3 large seeds, which shall sow, soon. They must be
grown fresh; remove seeds from fruit, wash off pulp, then sow 6mm deep, and keep warm (75F)

The plants are not easy to find, as growers have to import fresh seed, (my supplier has to get her seed from Australia) or from me in a good year!

HOW TO GET YOUR MURRAYA KOENIGII:

One of the few specialist growing them, is Janet Elliott, of OLD HALL PLANTS at Barsham in north Suffolk; this is a couple of miles from my home, I often see Janet in
town; I saw her yesterday, and told her about this blog, I asked her if she has any ready for sale, she said that
she has several at the moment, but they sell out very quickly. (by mail order)

For more information look-up OLD HALL PLANTS on line.

• 12 Sep, 2014
• 7 likes

More blog posts by DavidS