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Dictamnus albus
Also called Burning Bush, Burningbush, Dittany, Fraxinella, White Dittany
A tough, long-lived perennial in the citrus family with spikes of pale purple or white flowers, grown mainly for its long-lived clumps. The key to success is planting it once in a permanent spot, since it resents being moved or divided.
Dictamnus albus is a species of flowering plant in the family Rutaceae. It is also known as burning bush, dittany, gas plant or fraxinella. This herbaceous perennial has several geographical variants.
It is native to warm, open woodland habitats in southern Europe, north Africa and much of Asia.
Several varieties and cultivars have been selected for garden use. The variety D. albus var. purpureus in which the violet-purple is confined to veining of white petals with a slight blush, has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. Dictamnus is tap-rooted, making mature plants difficult to establish and resistant to division; young plants often need three years before they begin to flower, and since it is late to break into leaf in spring, even quite mature clumps may be harmed with vigorous soil-working in spring. For all these reasons, added to toxicity of the foliage, Dictamnus is rarely seen in American gardens.
The leaves have a bitter and unpalatable taste. Despite the lemon-like smell, the plant is acrid when eaten. All parts of the plant may cause mild stomach upset if eaten, and contact with the foliage may cause phytophotodermatitis.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Dictamnus albus 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.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
