The open plant encyclopedia
Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.
The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.
Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.
Osyris lanceolata is a small, semi-parasitic shrub or tree from dry rocky ground and dry forest margins in Africa, the Canary Islands and southern Iberia, prized for its scented wood and oil. It is grown mainly in its native dry, sunny habitats rather than as a common garden or houseplant.
Osyris lanceolata, also known as African sandalwood, watta bush or Camwood, is used for its scented wood and to extract essential oil. The semi-parasitic plant is found from South Africa to Zimbabwe and east Africa, including Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda; northwest Africa; the Canary Islands and the southern half of the Iberian Peninsula. It grows in rocky areas or along the margins of dry forest, but is usually not abundant in any one place.
The wood is overexploited in parts of its range despite legal protection. In Somaliland, the leaves and tender branches of the tree are used for tanning leather.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Osyris lanceolata 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.
