Ear-leaf pepper

Piper auritum, known in Spanish as hoja santa or hierba santa and in English as Mexican pepperleaf or ear-leaf pepper, is a robust herbaceous shrub in the Piperaceae family, native to humid lowlands from Mexico through Central America to northern South America. The plant produces succulent, branching, jointed stems that may reach 2 to 3 metres in height from creeping rhizomes, forming dense colonies in shaded, moist habitats. The most distinctive feature is the foliage: large, alternate, heart-shaped to broadly ovate leaves 20 to 40 centimetres long with a deeply cordate, asymmetrically auricled base and a softly pubescent, velvety texture. Crushed leaves release a strong aromatic fragrance reminiscent of root beer or sassafras, owing to the presence of safrole and related phenylpropenes. The inflorescences are slender, erect, pale yellow-green spadices 10 to 25 centimetres long, densely packed with minute apetalous flowers. The small drupes ripen as densely packed greenish fruiting spikes.