Alyssum spinosum L.

TSO logo

Sponsor this page

For information about how you could sponsor this page, see How You Can Help

Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Alyssum spinosum' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/alyssum/alyssum-spinosum/). Accessed 2023-03-31.

Genus

Synonyms

  • Ptilotrichum spinosum (L.) Boiss.

Other taxa in genus

    Glossary

    apex
    (pl. apices) Tip. apical At the apex.
    calcareous
    Relating to lime- or chalk-rich soils or water.
    entire
    With an unbroken margin.
    glabrous
    Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
    oblanceolate
    Inversely lanceolate; broadest towards apex.
    style
    Generally an elongated structure arising from the ovary bearing the stigma at its tip.

    References

    There are no active references in this article.

    Credits

    Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

    Recommended citation
    'Alyssum spinosum' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/alyssum/alyssum-spinosum/). Accessed 2023-03-31.

    A spiny shrub of dense habit, with interlacing branches, 6 to 15 in. high, usually much more in diameter; young shoots covered with a close, silvery scurf; spines slender, 18 to 58 in. long. Leaves narrowly oblong to oblanceolate, tapered at the base, pointed or rounded at the apex, entire; 12 to 2 in. long, 116 in. or less wide; covered on both sides with silvery, star-like down. Flowers white or pale rose, fragrant, 310 in. wide, numerous and closely packed in terminal umbellate racemes 34 in. wide; petals four, obovate, tapered to the base. Pod circular to obovate, 18 in. wide, glabrous, terminated by the persistent style.

    Native of S.W. Europe and N. Africa, common in calcareous rocky places in S. France and Spain; introduced in 1683. It succeeds very well in full sunshine in rock gardens south of London, flowering in May and June.