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Madwort

Alyssum

Also called Alisons

Madwort
Photo: Enrico Blasutto at Italian Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0

Alyssum is a genus of over a hundred small flowering plants in the cabbage family, with annual and perennial species. Commonly grown members include sweet alyssum (Lobularia maritima) and the rockery plant Aurinia saxatilis, which are kept for their clusters of small, fragrant flowers in full sun and well-drained soil.

Family
Brassicaceae (Cabbage family)
Grows as
Annual, Perennial
Light
Full sun
Water
Water regularly while establishing, then let the top of the soil dry out between waterings.
Soil
Light, well-drained soil or gritty mix; tolerates poor soil.
Temperature
10–25 °C; tolerates light frost once established
How easy
Easy
Safety
Not known to be toxic. Not toxic to cats or dogs (ASPCA).

About

Alyssum is a genus of over a hundred species of flowering plants in the family Brassicaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and northern Africa, with the highest species diversity in the Mediterranean region. The genus comprises annual and perennial herbaceous plants or (rarely) small shrubs, growing to 10–100 cm tall, with oblong-oval leaves. Alyssum flowers are characteristically small and grouped in terminal clusters; they are often yellow or white colored but can be pink or purple.

The genera Lobularia, Aurinia and Odontarrhena are closely related to Alyssum and were formerly included in it. The widely cultivated species popularly known as "sweet alyssum" (Alyssum maritimum) is Lobularia maritima. The common rockery plant (Alyssum saxatile) is Aurinia saxatilis.

Other Alyssum plants

Pale madwort · Desert madwort · Mountain Alison · Alyssum wulfenianum

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Alyssum 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.

Pet safety from the ASPCA toxic and non-toxic plant lists.

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