Galium odoratum
Sweet woodruff is a low, shade-tolerant perennial with whorled leaves and small white flowers. Its characteristic hay-and-vanilla aroma becomes more apparent as the leaves wilt or dry.1
The aroma is associated with coumarin, the same broad flavor compound family that gives tonka bean and fresh-cut hay some of their character. This is a small-quantity flavoring plant, not a bulk herb.1
Sweet woodruff spreads by rhizomes and can form a continuous woodland groundcover. In Germany it is strongly associated with Waldmeister flavoring.2
Footnotes
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University of Minnesota Extension, “Edible Flowers,” accessed July 17, 2026. ↩ ↩2
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Penn State Extension, “Sweet Woodruff in the Garden and the Kitchen,” 2026. ↩