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Santolina chamaecyparissus
Also called Cotton Lavender
Lavender cotton is a compact, evergreen, aromatic shrub with grey-green foliage and button-like yellow flowers in summer. It needs full sun and very well-drained soil, and it is often grown as edging or groundcover.
Santolina chamaecyparissus (syn. S. incana), known as cotton lavender or lavender-cotton, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native to the western and central Mediterranean.
This plant is valued in cultivation as groundcover or as an edging plant for a hot, sunny, well-drained spot, though it may be short-lived. Once established, plants can tolerate dry and poor soils. Its compact shape can be maintained by cutting back in spring.
Numerous cultivars have been produced, of which 'Nana', a dwarf form growing to 25 cm (10 in), has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
In cosmetics it is used as a tonic.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Santolina chamaecyparissus 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.
