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Agathosma
Also called Buchus
Agathosma, called buchu, is a genus of about 140 small, aromatic shrubs and subshrubs from southern Africa, with small white to pink flowers. The commonly grown members are Agathosma betulina and Agathosma crenulata, grown commercially for essential oil.
Agathosma is a genus of about 140 species of flowering plants in the family Rutaceae, native to the southern part of Africa. Common names include buchu, boegoe, bucco, bookoo, and diosma. Buchu formally denotes two herbal species, prized for their fragrance and medicinal use despite their toxicity. In colloquial use however, the term (see Boegoe) is applied to a wider set of fragrant shrubs or substitutes.
They are small shrubs and subshrubs, mostly with erect woody stems reaching 30–100 cm (1–3 ft) tall, but low-growing and prostrate in some species. The leaves are usually opposite, ericoid, often crowded, simple, entire, from 0.5 to 3.5 cm (1⁄4 to 1+1⁄2 in) long. The flowers are produced in terminal clusters, 0.7–2 cm (1⁄4–3⁄4 in) diameter, with five white, pink, red or purple, petals.
Two species of Agathosma endemic to the Western Cape mountains of South Africa and colloquially referred to as "buchu" are cultivated on a commercial basis for their essential oils, Agathosma betulina and Agathosma crenulata. The leaves of Agathosma betulina have been used in traditional medicine. Bottled agathosma infusions were widely sold in English-speaking countries as "buchu tea" in the 1860s and 1870s.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Agathosma by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
