Sweet marjoram

Origanum majorana

Lamiaceae

Oregano’s sweeter kitchen cousin — a tender Mediterranean mint for digestion and a quiet evening cup.

Culinary mint. Gentler than oregano; not the same plant.

Parts used: Leaf · Flowering tops
Traditional notes: Kitchen seasoning · After a heavy meal · A quiet evening cup · Mild tension
Grow · USDA 6b: Tender perennial, USDA 8–10; annual farther north After frost, or a nursery pot. Seed is fine and slow. In work: May · Jun · Jul · Aug · Sep
Harvest: Cut as the knots of flower form — flavor peaks then.

A terracotta pot you can carry inside beats a lost row.
Do not confuse it with hardy oregano if you want the sweet cup.
Dry the flowering tops in the dark; they keep the perfume.

Safety

Essential oil internally Pregnancy in strong medicinal — not food — amounts

Lore

Sweet marjoram was the plant Aphrodite was said to have grown. It is oregano’s gentler, more floral sibling, and it hates a hard frost. German sausage and a Greek hillside both claim it.

The Herbarium — a teaching catalog, not a clinic. Traditional use is history, not a prescription. USDA 6b dates are a week either way, not a promise. Do not eat, drink, or harvest a plant you cannot name.