Description: A perennial climbing shrub 60-100 cm high, with trailing stems and erect thorny twigs bearing single, deep pink or red flowers. The thorny leaves are unpaired pinnate, consisting of five to seven leaflets, on long petioles. The strongly scented flowers appear in May and June. After the flowering period, hips enclosing hairy achenes are formed on the twigs.

Origin and Distribution: This species grows wild in Europe and western Asia, on chalky soils in woodland clearings. It is cultivated in France, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey and the USSR, for the fragrant rose oil. The closely related damask rose (Rosa damascena), in its red-flowering form trigintipetala, is the source of Bulgarian rose oil or attar of roses. It is cultivated in the famous `Rose Valley’ near Kazanlak in Bulgaria. Read the rest of this entry »

Description: A perennial sub-shrub, usually 50 cm but sometimes up to 1 m high. The upper parts of the stems are herbaceous, the lower parts woody. The downy leaves are petiolate, oblong-ovoid, with a finely wrinkled surface, and usually greenish to silver-grey. The flowers, arranged in false whorls, are violet, white or pink, flowering in June and July. The whole plant has a pleasant smell.

Origin and Distribution: Native to the Mediterranean region, and cultivated elsewhere in Europe and North America. Often grown in gardens, rarely escaping into the wild. Read the rest of this entry »

Description: A small tropical evergreen tree up to 7 m high, with leathery leaves on short petioles, which diffuse a pleasant smell when rubbed. The inconspicuous flowers are arranged in loose clusters. The fruits are small round berries, first green, later black.

Origin and Distribution: Native to the Caribbean countries and Central America. It is sometimes cultivated but usually wild trees are utilized. Read the rest of this entry »

Description: An annual plant with a branching stem up to 1 m high. Where it branches the stem is often swollen, with a reddish tinge. The dark green leaves are linear-lanceolate with transparent dots. The plant bears small, greenish or pinkish flowers arranged in drooping clusters, appearing from June to September. The fruit is a tiny achene.

Distribution: Found in Europe, Asia and North America. Abundant in moist, shady places, on bare soil, mainly on flooded river banks, damp forests, and near ponds and lakes. Read the rest of this entry »

Description: A subtropical deciduous tree up to 5 —8 m high. The crowns of young trees are usually erect, spreading in older trees. The lanceolate leaves are dark green and finely serrate. The flowers grow in pairs on two-year-old wood, and are deep pink in sweet varieties, and white to pinkish in bitter varieties. The flowers appear in early spring, before the leaves. The fruit is an ovoid drupe, the so-called almond; it has a grey-green, tomentose pericarp, containing a single stone with one, rarely more, flattened seeds, the edible kernels. Read the rest of this entry »

Description: An annual plant 10-30 cm high with a hollow, angular, richly foliate stem. Leaves are light green, petiolate, fine, composed of oblong linear leaflets. Flowers are tubular, with a long spur, arranged in sparse racemes, pale to purple-red, appearing from May till July.

Distribution: A common weed native from lowland to mountain regions in Europe, western Asia and northern Africa, and introduced with grain to all continents. Grows in fields and gardens, along waysides and on waste ground. Read the rest of this entry »

Description: A deciduous shrub or small tree with scaly bark, approximately 5 m high. Leaves are similar to hazel leaves, coarsely toothed with 5-7 pairs of veins, finely hairy on the reverse. Bright yellow flowers have narrow, band-like petals and grow in clusters in the leaf axils. Buds are spirally coiled like a watch spring. Flowers in autumn and winter, sometimes as late as February. Flowering lasts until all the leaves have fallen. Fruit is an ovoid capsule bearing two black seeds. Read the rest of this entry »

Description: A perennial plant with a thick, short, pulpy rootstock and long, branched, yellow-brown roots which are white inside and very aromatic. From the rootstock rise glossy, dark green basal leaves on long petioles, deeply divided into several leaflets. Stem is 1-2 m high, foliate; upper leaves grow on short petioles. The large, dense umbels of yellow flowers grow in the leaf axils and appear in July and August. Read the rest of this entry »

Description: An annual plant in the temperate zone, in the tropics a branched shrub or tree. The hollow stem is 1-2 m high, becoming woody with age, and is green, red or violet, usually waxy. The leaves are large, palmately lobed, with veins usually the same colour as the stem. Male and female flowers are arranged in racemes. The fruit is a capsule, usually spiny, containing smooth, oblong, black or mottled seeds with a fleshy excrescence. Read the rest of this entry »

Description: A deciduous tree up to 20 m high, with somewhat drooping branches. The bark of young branches is yellowish, turning brown later. The lanceolate leaves are ash-grey. Inconspicuous greenish female flowers (catkins) appear at the same time as the leaves. The ovary ripens into a capsule with tiny seeds with white downy tufts. The male flowers (on separate trees) are silky catkins that turn yellow with pollen.

Origin and Distribution: Indigenous to moist woodland and watersides in Europe and the cool regions of Asia. Introduced to North America. Read the rest of this entry »