The next time you take a stroll through the English Garden or the Pollinator Garden at Assiniboine Park Zoo, see if you can spot a particular plant that looks and smells like a beloved movie snack but is quite remarkable on its own – the popcorn plant (Senna didymobotrya)!

Basics: The popcorn plant is a member of the legume family (family Fabaceae) and commonly referred to as popcorn cassia. It is a shrub that can grow up to 10 to 25 feet tall in its native habitat but in northern climates, stay around two to three feet. With care they can be grown over winter but typically grow best from late summer to fall. The leaves themselves grow up to three inches and are bright yellow with a rounding shape, making the flower look like brightly buttered popcorn. They can also be propagated by seed or by their cuttings.

Habitat: This annual cassia is native to tropical central and eastern Africa, but you can see them closer to home in the English Garden at Assiniboine Park or in the Pollinator Garden at the Zoo.

Bug Interactions: Birds, bees, and butterflies are all attracted to the popcorn plant. It’s a host plant for the Cloudless sulphur butterfly (Phoebis sennae) in tropical climates. When caterpillars munch on this plant – they change colour! The flowers turn them yellow, and the leaves turn them green.

Using the Plant: Unfortunately, this plant is poisonous to both humans and animals, so although it might be intriguing to try, you’re better off sticking with popcorn of the corn kind for your next movie.

A Movie Fan's Favourite Smell: This plant gets its common name because it smells and looks like popcorn. But how does it get its smell? If you run your fingers along its leaves and take a whif, you will get that warm, buttery scent that has been a staple for movie theatre since the late 1920’s.