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Lamiaceae Taxonomy Browser
Rosmarinus officinalis L.
EOL Text
An aromatic ornamental plant.
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Rights holder/Author | eFloras.org Copyright © Missouri Botanical Garden |
Source | http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200020165 |
Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) is a member of the mint family (Lamiaceae) that is native to the Mediterranean region and grows well near the sea. It was long ago introduced widely in Europe. It is used as an herb to savor meat, savory dishes, and salads. It is used sparingly in herb mixes because of its intense scent. The essential oil is used in cosmetics and in some pharmaceutical preparations.
Rosemary is an erect, bushy shrub that may reach 2 m in height. Its evergreen leaves are dark green above and white hairy below. The leaves are 2 to 3.5 cm in length and are folded inward along the margins. The violet-blue or whitish flowers are borne in small axillary (i.e., emerging from the angle between the leaf and stem) racemes. The calyx (the collective term for all the sepals of a flower) and corolla (the collective term for all the petals in a flower) are two-lipped, the latter around 1.25 cm in length and enclosing two stamens, the male sex organs in a flower.
(Vaughan and Geissler 1997)
As is the case for mints (family Lamiaceae) in general, Rosemary plants are self-compatible (i.e., they can fertilize themselves), but as is also typical for the family, the anthers (male pollen-producing structures in each flower) are finished producing pollen before the stigmas (female parts) in the same flower mature. Thus, the plants rely on insect pollinators to move their pollen from one flower to another. Often, pollen from one flower is moved to a mature stigma on another flower on the same plant, resulting in self-fertilization. Self-fertilization in Rosemary plants tends to result in fewer and lighter seeds than cross-fertilization (i.e., fertilization of a flower by pollen from a flower on a different individual plant), an example of inbreeding depression. Like many species in the Lamiaceae, Rosemary is gynodioecious, i.e., populations are composed of some plants with hermaphrodite flowers, which are functionally both male and female, and others whose flowers are functionally female, with the male organs reduced and sterile. Hidalgo and Ubera (2001) suggested that gynodioecy in Rosemary effectively increases outcrossing and thereby decreases inbreeding depression.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Leo Shapiro, Leo Shapiro |
Source | No source database. |
"Notes: Western Ghats, Cultivated, Native of Mediterranean Region"
United States
Origin: Exotic
Regularity: Regularly occurring
Currently: Unknown/Undetermined
Confidence: Confident
"Tamil Nadu: Dindigul, Nilgiri"
Rosmarinus officinalis L.:
Bolivia (South America)
Ecuador (South America)
El Salvador (Mesoamerica)
Guatemala (Mesoamerica)
Mexico (Mesoamerica)
Peru (South America)
Pakistan (Asia)
United States (North America)
China (Asia)
Colombia (South America)
Venezuela (South America)
Note: This information is based on publications available through Tropicos and may not represent the entire distribution. Tropicos does not categorize distributions as native or non-native.
- Jørgensen, P. M. & C. Ulloa Ulloa. 1994. Seed plants of the high Andes of Ecuador---A checklist. AAU Rep. 34: 1–443.
- SPECIMEN BASED RECORD. Published protolog data.
- Anonymous. 1986. List-Based Rec., Soil Conserv. Serv., U.S.D.A. Database of the U.S.D.A., Beltsville.
- Foster, R. C. 1958. A catalogue of the ferns and flowering plants of Bolivia. Contr. Gray Herb. 184: 1–223.
- Standley, P. C. & L. O. Williams. 1973. Labiatae. In Standley, P.C. & Williams, L.O. (Eds), Flora of Guatemala - Part IX, Number 3. Fieldiana, Bot. 24(9/3): 237–317.
- Macbride, J. F. 1960. Labiatae, Flora of Peru. Publ. Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Bot. Ser. 13(5/2): 721–829.
- Jørgensen, P. M. & S. León-Yánez. (eds.) 1999. Catalogue of the vascular plants of Ecuador. Monogr. Syst. Bot. Missouri Bot. Gard. 75: i–viii, 1–1181.
- Breedlove, D. E. 1986. Flora de Chiapas. Listados Floríst. México 4: i–v, 1–246.
- Berendsohn, W. G. & A. E. Araniva de González. 1989. Listado básico de la Flora Salvadorensis: Dicotyledonae, Sympetalae (pro parte): Labiatae, Bignoniaceae, Acanthaceae, Pedaliaceae, Martyniaceae, Gesneriaceae, Compositae. Cuscatlania 1(3): 290–1–290–13.
- Dodson, C. H., A. H. Gentry & F. M. Valverde Badillo. 1985. Fl. Jauneche 1–512. Banco Central del Ecuador, Quito.
- Flora of China Editorial Committee. 1994. Fl. China 17: 1–378. Science Press & Missouri Botanical Garden Press, Beijing & St. Louis.
- Hokche, O., P. E. Berry & O. Huber. 2008. 1–860. In O. Hokche, P. E. Berry & O. Huber Nuevo Cat. Fl. Vasc. Venezuela. Fundación Instituto Botánico de Venezuela, Caracas.
- Idárraga-Piedrahita, A., R. D. C. Ortiz, R. Callejas Posada & M. Merello. 2011. Flora de Antioquia. Catálogo de las Plantas Vasculares, vol. 2. Listado de las Plantas Vasculares del Departamento de Antioquia. Pp. 1-939.
- García-Mendoza, A. J. & J. Meave del Castillo. 2011. Divers. Florist. Oaxaca 1–351. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad Universitaria.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Tropicos.org Copyright (c) Missouri Botanical Garden |
Source | http://www.tropicos.org/Name/17600561?tab=distribution |
Chile Central
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Pablo Gutierrez, IABIN |
Source | No source database. |
Plants to 2 m tall. Bark dark gray, irregularly fissured, exfoliating, young branches densely white stellate-tomentulose. Leaves tufted on branches, sessile to short petiolate; leaf blade 1-2.5 cm × 1-2 mm, leathery, adaxially somewhat shiny, subglabrous, abaxially densely white stellate-tomentose, base attenuate, margin entire, revolute, apex obtuse. Calyx ca. 4 mm, densely white stellate tomentose and glandular outside, upper lip subcircular, teeth of lower lip ovate-triangular. Corolla blue-purple, less than 1 cm, sparsely pubescent outside, tube slightly exserted, apex of upper lip 2-lobed, lobes ovate, middle lobe of lower lip constricted at base into claw, lateral lobes oblong. Fl. Nov.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | eFloras.org Copyright © Missouri Botanical Garden |
Source | http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200020165 |
Habit: Shrub
Introduced in China ca. 220 A.D. [Africa, SW Asia, Europe]
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | eFloras.org Copyright © Missouri Botanical Garden |
Source | http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200020165 |