Water-conscious?
African rosemary is a beautiful grey-leaved shrub native to South Africa. The foliage is highly aromatic, with many of the same properties as common rosemary, and is used in Africa in the same way we use common rosemary.
Adaptations within the plant help the water-conscious gardener. The grey leaf colour helps to reflect sunlight, an act which reduces leaf temperature. Tiny hairs cover the leaves and trap moisture and reduce transpiration. The small needle-like leaves also means there is less surface area through which to lose water.
Snow all winter
African rosemary can often be completely covered in delightful small white flowers with purple centres throughout the winter. These flowers are followed by fluffy seedheads reminiscent of being covered in snow. This gives them the common name of kapokbos, from the Afrikaans kapok, referring to snow.
These seedheads are collected in its native habitat and used to stuff pillows, giving them a lovely scent and softness.
• Height and spread: 2-3m wide and 1m tall, but responds well to hard pruning
• Foliage: Small needle-like grey aromatic leaves
• Flowers: Small, white with a purple centre, borne in profusion
• Conditions: Extremely drought-tolerant, enjoying all soils except waterlogging
At Dunedin Botanic Garden you can see it in the main fynbos biome bed at the uphill edge of the Southern African Garden.
- Dylan Norfield is the Geographic and Arboretum collection curator at Dunedin Botanic Garden.
