Rosemary
Salvia rosmarinus
Family · Lamiaceae · Harmless
The needle-leaved shrub, dark green above and whitish beneath, flowering through most of the winter. Where there is rosemary there is usually limestone and sun.
Scrubland · Walls and rocks · Fields and pasture
Also known asrosemary
How to tell it
A narrow, stiff leaf with rolled margins, white underneath. An immediate resinous smell. Pale blue flowers held against the branch, not on a spike at the top.
What it is confused with
French lavender
Lavandula stoechas
Rosemary has needle leaves and flowers against the branch. French lavender has broader grey leaves and an eared spike on top.
What it is for
A kitchen herb across the Mediterranean and a traditional infusion plant. Also one of the best winter bee plants, when almost nothing else is in flower.
Traditionally used as food. This is not permission to eat it.
With documented traditional uses. Not a therapeutic indication and not a dose.
Where it occurs
Each square is an area with recorded observations of this plant. The lighter background is the set of areas where any of the entries has been observed, and serves as a reference. Note what this is not: it is not where the plant lives, it is where people record it, so trails and towns always look fuller than the mountains. Data from GBIF.
Sources
Community
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