Why is the Evodia Suaveolens such a rarity?
I searched long and hard, but could not find what was touted to be the ultimate mosquito repellant plant. I even searched the internet but strangely, there wasn’t much information posted on the plant.
I sniffed and touched every plant which looked remotely like the Evodia Suaveolens. I was even fooled into thinking that the Evodia Ridleyi was the real deal and bought a few. But it wasn’t, and I gave all four plants away. The structurally similar Ridleyi simply lacks the Zodia’s intoxicating scent.
Then someone gave me a tiny Zodia. I subjected the tiny 1-inch seedling to a sniff-and-touch test. The leaves were sticky and the scent was heady. It was the real McCoy! As instructed, I planted the seedling in a small pot, and watered it sparingly.
The tiny pot didn’t do the plant any favours. It obviously gave the Zodia the impression that it was a bonsai as it remained an inch tall for a really long time.
“What do you mean it hasn’t grown?” the person who gave me the seedling asked for the umpteenth time. He nagged me to change the pot, and for the sake of peace, I did.
Liberated from its close confines, the Zodia stretched its limbs. For the first time, I could actually see significant progress.
Encouraged, I changed the pot yet again, leap frogging from a 4-inch pot to a 10-inch one. A drastic jump, defying the usual advice to take it one step at a time. I guess I was making up for lost time.
The Zodia obliged by growing stronger by the day, and taller by the week.
Then one day I saw buds, then flowers. Needless to say, this mother hen clucked with pride and dashed to get the camera.
I was hoping to pollinate the microscopic flowers but gave up after a couple of tries. I couldn’t even see the stamen and the pistil, what more the anther and the stigma. But thankfully, before I could get cross-eyed, nature took over. Ants are great agents of pollination.
Right now, the fruit may still be green, but I’m already looking forward to getting some seeds from the plant. Perhaps once I have enough Zodia in the garden, mosquitoes will really be a thing of the past.
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Care and propagation: partial shade to full sun; well drained soil, water moderately, propagation through seeds and semi-hardwood cuttings
Does it really keep the mozzies away? I remember when we were in primary school, there was a time when everyone rushed around to get this mosquito-repellant plants. No idea if they worked or not. But I love the idea that it does.
i think i would need to grow more. they certainly have a strong heady scent which is ever present. the pelargonium graveolens or rose geranium only releases its scent when brushed against.
Hello typicalgardener….
sent you an email some time….but i suppose u were too busy to respond….just wanted to tell u i have just acquired 4 small pots of baby zodia….plus a handful of strong smelling seeds… was just wondering if it needs sun o shade….found out d answer from your blog….thanx 4 sharing d info…i presume zodia is not a fussy plant…right?
warm regards….norhaini
hi norhaini. i am so sorry i missed your email. i must check my emails more regularly. that is good news about the plants and seeds you acquired. no, they’re not fussy. i’m sure yours will do very well. can you keep us updated? 🙂
m glad 2 hear that itz not a fussy plant….gave a pot to my father in KL…n another to a sister in Melaka…..m left with 2…but have some seeds…have sown a few….any idea abt their germination rate…? Hv u sown any zodia seeds b4…?
the thing about the evodia suaveolens is that it doesn’t seem to set seeds as easily as suavelens ridleyi. all the pods were empty except for one and i sowed that seed immediately. once i see any sign of germination, i’ll let you know, ok? 🙂
yup…i did notice that most of the seed pots do not hv well formed seeds….only a few seem to have them….well..the existence of the two pots of zodia seems to dampen the little motivation for sowing them….. tho i did throw some seed pods on d ground…just wanna see if any seed wud germinate….
someone gave you the seed (pods), norhaini? someone gave me a number of pods too and they were all empty. i thought then that the seeds had dispersed; but now i realise that they probably hadn’t formed.
wooops…correction…meant to type seed pods….not seed pots!! Urrgghh….
I guess the plant needs to be bruised for the anti mozzie effect.
Hi….just wanna update u on my zodia….d seelings from d seeds i sowed….seem to b doing fine…in fact they seemed to b outgrowing d baby plants that came with d un-sown seeds…!! However, correct me if m wrong….think zodia is not a fast grower….d growth rate seems to b quite slow…???
the mature plant doesn’t grow very fast – quite average i guess. any photos of your baby zodia? would love to see them.
Sent thru my yahoo mail….errr did u get it…rather them…????
hi norhaini, i didn’t get that. could you send the photos to typicalgardener@gmail.com instead? thanks!
wokei….done…have a nice day!
Hey folks , has anybody seeds of the Zodia – Evodiaa graveolens availlable .
I have been looking for this for ages….Will gladly pay all expenses and for the seeds.
I am living in Mexico. Please send me a mail :
lucvleeracker@yahoo.com
Thanks
can we get this plant in Malaysia..???
someone has seen it for sale in sg buloh but i’ve never come across it there myself, atiqah.
Seems like Achillea millefolium is also a ” proven mosquito repelent “…..We´ll see I ordered some seeds…
that’s great, luc! are there any other mosquito repelling plants, i wonder. tell us how yours do, ok?
Hi Typical Gaderner…r u back from New Zealand…? Did u bring any interesting plants o seeds home….?
Hi Luc…did u manage to get zodia seeds…..? Unfortunately i’ve none now s i have sown all my seeds n my plants r still too young to flower ….so no seeds yet…. sure wouldn’t mind sending over some if i do have….
No still no Zodia seeds…….
do you receive any booking of this plant? if you do, i would like one. .
would be lovely to have enough to take orders, atiqah. must try to propagate it first. 🙂
hi typical gardener.. jus wanted to ask a question esp to norhaini..do u have a malay name for zodia. i’m from brunei btw..since we usually buy these seedilings from tamu.
Hi rennie….sorry i do not know d malay name for it….probably there is a local bruneian name for it ….do tell us if u find out….
Hi TG….my zodia has started fruiting…i have tiny green pods on my plant….n guess what….??!! Errmmm m soo excited…i have a new baby in d garden…a 1 yr old Wisteria….well dunno if it wud survive n thrive…dunno if it wud ever flower here in malaysia….i know it’s gonna b a long long wait….heard that they’ll flower after 5 – 10 years…i’ll pray for miracles..please pray with me…!!
wow, a wisteria! how lovely! where did you get it from, norhaini?
keep a lookout for the seeds of the zodia. unfortunately my seed pods were almost always empty.
thanx norhaini.. m very eager to grow a few since my kids really loooove outdoors activities..well maybe i’ll have to print out the pic n show it to the makciks at the local market.. really elusive one..
rennie, make sure they don’t sell you the evodia ridleyi instead, ok? they look very similar.
Hi TG… ebay of course…one can buy just about anything on ebay…BTW checked my zodia pods…d brown ones…opened up a few…barren…no seeds…YET ….errr think d plant is probably still too young…. good luck rennie in your hunt for d elusive zodia….n s TG said…b careful…smell d leaves first…just touch d leaves…u’ll b able to smell d …well to me its a beautiful delicious fragrance…s beauty is to d beholder…fragrance is to d sniffer…huh TG…??? 🙂
you will get a few seeds eventually … but i was hoping i’d get lots. LOL – the smell is … potent, i guess. one friend said he slipped a leaf into his pocket and felt giddy from the scent. 😀
can you show me your wisteria? it is one of my fave plants but have never been able to get one before. now i am inspired by you to try and get one too. 😀
wokei…will send to your email….m hoping to turn it into a bonsai…but have never ever done bonsai b4….!!! About d scent….yea i put 2 – 3 leaves in my car…n d smell within d enclosed space got v v strong….!! May b not a wise thing to do…
hi.. this is quite embarrassing.. browsed ebay to find flower seeds, but what i get is ‘Post to: United Kingdom’…does that specifically mean only to uk? thanx for any comment..
it does sound like it, rennie.
Rennie …for u to b able to buy….choose a seller who ships internationally… it will b stated s ship to : worldwide…
hi..thanx for the info.. hmmm seemed to find few but saw this
Postage to: Worldwide
Excludes: Southeast Asia,etc…
still no postage to brunei or m’sia i guess…
Hi once again.. will travel to KL during schoool holidays this Dec.. think it’s the best opportunity to go to sg buloh and buy most of these elusive plants.. Sg Buloh here i come.. 🙂 think i’ll shop til i drop…
Spotted this at Pasar Tani Mega, Shah Alam stadium.
@ 5 Feb 2012. RM15ea about 1ft in size.
Look for the lane selling fruits and go right till the end.
You can find herbs and fruit tree saplings.
you did? the real McCoy? i ask cos i was fooled once. the evodia ridleyii is quite similar. but it’ll be good news for many if they are finally selling the zodia here.
Oops. What I thought i saw, was actually a different plant.
Nama Tempatan: Jeremin. Nama Saintifik: Pelargonium radula
Sorry for the confusion. Guess this Zodia will continue to remain elusive.
the Pelargonium has a lovely scent. the zodia’s isn’t exactly appealing.
Thanks for this post, I am a big fan of this internet site would like to proceed updated.
Ah, zodia… you can find them quite easily in Jakarta, where I live. I’ve only been trying to grow them for 5 years and experienced that they are a bit fragile and grow SLOWLY. I’m still looking for scientific data to confirm the anti-mosquito properties, because oddly I once found mosquito larvae in a small cup of water where i was sprouting several zodia twigs (and yes, it’s the real mccoy, strongly aromatic).
i must try propagating it again. did your twigs root?
Funny, I just found the research “proof” i’d been looking for: http://bengkelgood-morningsir.blogspot.com/search/label/Zodia. It’s in indonesian…. I guess the linalool (zodia oil is 46% linalool) can keep away ‘squitoes at 70%, according to the article.
i think we’d need to grow a lot of this in the garden to ward off the mosquitoes, right, Annie?
[…] Mr. Ramadan’s structures are cool without the need for air-conditioning. They are stable and comfortable and modern. Bamboo Village Kuala Lumpur also boasts a serious lack of mosquitoes due to a relatively unknown species of plant Evodia Suaveolens also know as Zodia. […]
I live in Bali and was offered one of these plants at a plant Center. About 3 feet tall. They said anti-mosquito.
I have sliding doors in my villa’s master bedroom and mosquitoes get in through the cracks. That’s an issue for sleeping. I have one friend who is a mosquito magnet who is tormented endlessly trying to sleep in that room so I thought I would give this plant a shot.
It is amazingly effective. Absolutely amazing.
After the first night with the plant in the room she reported zero mosquito bites or encounters. Normally I would be woken up a few times during the night by the crackling of the mosquito racquet that we use to zap these pests.
If I take the plant outside, mosquitoes are back in the room within hours. If you rub the leaves between thumb and forefinger it generates an intense and unique citrus peel oil fragrance due to the Limolene.
The plant center at just found me another one about 7 ft tall with a price of about $30. I’m on my way to look at it later today.
I had previously bought 18 orange Jessamine and white jasmine in hopes of a fragrant yard. I should have just gotten one of these to begin with. It’s much more powerful and fragrance also very nice, also it’s a single shrub or tree.
I find the scent really heady. 😄