Description: A perennial plant with a thin, cylindrical, trailing rootstock and a quadrangular, glabrous stem 10-30 cm high. Bright green, elongated, rough-edged, tapering leaves are arranged in whorls. Fragrant tiny white flowers arranged in cymose panicles appear in May and June. Fruit is a globose, bristly diachene. Read the rest of this entry »

Description: An ornamental, tropical, evergreen tree with a conical dark green crown, up to 6 —8 m in height. Male flowers are small, whitish, arranged in clusters, and female flowers are usually solitary, rising from the leaf axils; the tree blooms all year round. The fruit is a one-seeded berry, in shape like a peach Read the rest of this entry »

Description: A perennial plant with a profusely branched rootstock and an erect stem up to 60 cm high, branching at the top. Leaves are opposite, oblong to linear with transparent spots which are glands bearing volatile oil. Flowers 20-25 mm across appear from May till September, arranged in rich panicles. The golden-yellow five-petalled flowers are dotted with black glands at the edges, and when broken these glands exude a dark red oil. The fruit is a capsule. Read the rest of this entry »

Description: A prostrate, trailing, perennial waterside plant, reaching 60 cm in height at most. The opposite, rounded leaves are about 25 mm in diameter and grow on short petioles. The solitary flowers rising from the leaf axils are yellow with dark dots, appearing from June to August. The fruit is a capsule with tiny seeds.

Origin and Distribution: Probably native to Europe from where it spread to the New World. The evergreen plants form a dense mat, and are therefore excellent as ground cover. Read the rest of this entry »

Description: A subtropical evergreen tree, with a gnarled, greyish-green trunk, 7-12 m high. It has narrow, grey-green, leathery leaves and bears small whitish flowers arranged in axillary panicles. The fruit is an oblong yellowish-green, purple drupe containing a spindle-shaped hard stone.

Origin and Distribution: Native to the whole Mediterranean region where it is very common. Widely cultivated in dry subtropical regions of both the Old and New Worlds. Read the rest of this entry »