Description: An evergreen subtropical tree, 3-6 m high, with a spherical, irregular crown. Branches are thick and usually thorny. Elliptical leaves have a short, unwinged petiole. Young leaves and flower buds are pink; older leaves are light green, and opened flowers are white. Fragrant flowers, 40-50 mm in diameter, growing individually or in sparse panicles in the leaf axils. Fruit is a berry, at each end narrowing into conical points, with light green to yellow rind. Rind is thick, not easy to peel, with a pleasant, fresh scent. Pulp usually consists of 8-10 segments containing vesicles with a sharp, sour, aromatic juice. Read the rest of this entry »

Description: A perennial, evergreen shrub 75-200 cm high, with twiggy branches and linear, leathery leaves which are dark green above and downy grey on the reverse. The pale violet to pale blue flowers rise from the leaf axils and flower from June to August.

Distribution: Rosemary grows wild in the Mediterranean region, and is cultivated in the rest of Europe, especially in Italy, Greece, Spain and Portugal. It requires protected, dry, sunny habitats, and grows well in humus-rich soil. It is propagated by cuttings of non-flowering shoots about 15 cm long, obtained from older plants. Read the rest of this entry »

Description: An annual plant up to 2 m high, with alternate, petiolate, sharply lobed, toothed leaves. Flowers have five yellow petals and reddish- purple centres. Ovary ripens into a hairy pyramidal capsule with greyish- yellow, kidney-shaped seeds the size of peas.

Origin and Distribution: Native to eastern India and cultivated elsewhere, mostly in southern Asia and South America. Read the rest of this entry »

Description: A grass cultivated since ancient times, with a loose panicle and kernels covered with husks. The massive root system supplies the plant with the considerable amounts of water it requires. It is resistant to cold and this is why it is a common crop plant of both temperate and cool climates. Usually sown in spring, sometimes in autumn.

Origin and Distribution: The oldest evidence of oats being used by man has been found in Swiss pile dwellings of the Bronze Age, but only in the early Middle Ages were they frequently cultivated, as evidence from Slavonic and German dwellings has shown. Nowadays oats are grown mainly in central and northern Europe, North America and to some extent in Australia. Read the rest of this entry »

Description: A robust annual plant, up to 60 cm high. Stem hollow, simple or branched, covered with bristly hairs. Leaves elliptical, wrinkled, rough, the lower ones on short petioles, the upper ones sessile. Flowers, on long stalks, are about 2 cm in diameter with a calyx of five sepals and a 5-pointed corolla, usually blue, sometimes white. Flowers from June till September. Fruit ovoid, light brown.

Origin and Distribution: Origin uncertain, thought to be southern Europe. Easily propagated by seed and naturalized in many places. Read the rest of this entry »